Puffin (Books)

Puffins are sea birds mentioned briefly in the How to Train Your Dragon Book series.

Description
There are three species of puffin in the Genus Fratercula - the Atlantic Puffin, the Tufted puffin, and the Horned puffin. The latter two species occur in the Pacific Ocean. All three species have large, flat and bright orange and yellow bills, especially around mating season. All also have varying combinations of black and white coloration.

The Atlantic puffin lives in the North Atlantic on both sides, in Northern Europe coastlines and coastlines of the Northern portions of North America. Atlantic puffins are though to be somewhat solitary while feeding on the oceans but not much is known about their behavior. More is known when the puffins congregate in colonies on the coastlines for breeding and rearing chicks.

Function
In the Book series, Puffins are mainly used for naming locations and objects.

In reality, puffins have been exploited for millennia as a food source - both the eggs and birds themselves. Many hunting methods involved nets and nooses. Some techniques also utilized the birds' natural curiosity and concern for other birds by placing dead birds on the ground and then netting the live birds that came to inspect the dead.

How to Train Your Dragon
The location, Puffin Point, is introduced on the map at the beginning of the Book. It is located at the Southern end of Berk. It might be assumed that puffins nest there.

How to Speak Dragonese
The small ship, The Hopeful Puffin, is introduced in this Book. It is a ship that Hiccup builds for his Viking pirate classes.