She listed its assets - black sand beaches, eider ducks, basalt columns, a tight community, her parents. And, oh, of course, the puffins. But she wasn't interested, as I was, in looking at them.

For the breeding season puffins change their costume. Their beaks grow thicker and brighter, white feathers replace black ones ... The favored small fish, like sand eels, sprat, and herring ...