Sociable and lovable, puffins have elaborate rituals, like chaps gathered around a fireplace to smoke postprandial cigars in 1908.

‘Ludicrous and lovable puffins!  Their sociability is as stiff and predictable as an evening in an Edwardian London.  Gestures of deference are required by any newcomer, and a little accepting dance of stamping feet is made by those already settled with cigars around the fender.’

See also the quote rich mosaic review of this magnificent, entrancing book: a love letter to islands and a paean to the sea. 

Source: Adam Nicolson, Sea Room: An Island Life (London: Harper Collins, 2013 (2002)), p. 182-83

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