4 46 © ALCIDA. 
Order ALC. 
This order includes the Auks, all of which inhabit the northern oceans, where they 
are often to be seen in vast numbers during the nesting-season. They require but a 
brief notice in the present work, as only a single species has been recorded from within 
our limits, and even on this reported capture Mr. Grant expresses some doubt. The 
characters for the definition of the Auks as a separate order are given at great length 
in the twenty-sixth volume of the ‘ Catalogue of Birds.’ 
Fam. ALCIDA. 
The characters for the family are the same as those of the order. Mr. Grant 
recognizes two subfamilies, the Auks (Alcine) and the Puffins (Fraterculine), the 
Jast-named distinguished by the absence of the feathering on the lores, which never 
extends so far as the posterior border of the nasal opening, the latter being overhung 
by a horny scale. 
Subfam. ALCINA. 
In this subfamily, which contains the Great Auk (Plautus impennis), the Guillemots 
(Uria), and the true Auks, the nostril is often all but coricealed by the protrusion of 
the feathering of the lores, which always extends to the posterior margin of the nasal 
opening. . 
BRACHYRHAMPHUS. 
Brachyrhamphus, Brandt, Bull. Acad. St. Pétersb. ii. p. 346 (1837) ; Grant, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. 
XXvi. p. 590 (1898). 
1. Brachyrhamphus brevirostris. 
Uria brevirostris, Vigors, Zool. Journ. iv. p. 3571; Zool. Voy. ‘ Blossom,’ Birds, p. 32°. 
Brachyrhamphus brevirostris, Grant, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xxvi. p. 593°; Nelson, North American 
Fauna, no. 14, p. 23 *. 
Brachyrhamphus kittltzi, Brandt, Bull. Acad. St. Pétersb. ii. p. 846°; Baird, Brewer, & Ridgway, 
Water-Birds N. Amer. ii. p. 501°. 
? Guillemot, Lawr. Mem. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist. ii. p. 3187. 
Supra schistaceus; scapularibus plerisque albis ; alis brunneis, secundariis albo terminatis ; rectricibus pure 
albis, his medianis tantum brunneis; pileo schistaceo; loris, superciliis ad nucham fere conjunctis, 
facie laterali, et corpore subtus toto, cum lateribus dorsi imi et uropygii, pure albis; colli lateribus 
brunneo fasciatim marmoratis, plumis singulis brunneo late marginatis. Long. tota circa 11-0, ale o°75, 
caude 1-8, culm. nudo 0°4, tarsi 0-6. (Descr. avis adult ex Kamtchatka. Mus. Brit.) 
Juv. Supra schistaceus, plumis ochraceo vel sordide albo maculatim terminatis; facie laterali brunneo striata ; 
