178 



The Ottawa Naturalist. 



[December 



The "Olympic Vole" was first described by Dr. C. Hart 

 Merriam, under the name Microtus fnacrwMS, in the Proceedings 

 of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia for August, 

 1898. The English name proposed for it by Mr. Bailey in 1900, 

 is intended to recall to the m.emory the circumstance that the 

 specimens upon which the species was originally based, were 

 collected at Lake Cushman, in the Olympic Mountains, State 

 of Washington. 



As its specific name implies, M. macrunts belongs to the 

 "Longicaudus Group" of the genus, which, according to Mr. 

 Bailey, is characterized by the "long tail and gray color." 



(2). Ceratokhina monocerata (Pallas) Cassin. 



(Tlic Rhinoceros Atiklet). 

 "Rara avis in terris." 



One egg, which is believed to be that of a bird of this species. 

 This egg, Dr. Fletcher writes, was brought to Mr. Keen in June, 

 1907, by an English sailor, who keeps a lighthouse on Lucy 

 Island, about 7 miles west of Metlakatla. At the same time he 

 brought an auklet, which he said he had trapped at the mouth 

 of the hole at the end of which he found the egg. Mr. Keen 

 says: "I can answer for the correct identification of the bird, 

 but have, of course, only the man's word that the egg is that of 

 a rhinoceros auklet." The egg certainly agrees very well with 

 Dr. Coues' description of that of Ceratorhina, which is as follows: 

 "Egg single, colorless or nearly so, but more or less obscureh'- 

 marked, as in Lundn and Fratercula; size, 2.70 x 1.80. The egg 

 pre.sented by Mr. Keen measures 2.70 x 1.75. Eggs of this 

 species would appear to be rare in collections, as they are not 

 listed or offered for sale in any egg dealer's catalogue that the 

 writer has seen. 



The rhinoceros auklet (formerly called also the unicorn 

 auklet or horn-billed auklet) is the only known species of the 

 genus Ceratorhina. One of the most marked peculiarities of 

 birds of this genus is the horned bill, which is thus described by 

 Coues: "Bill smooth, base of upper mandible with a large 

 upright horn, and under mandible with an accessory horny 

 piece lying between its rami; this piece and the horn deciduous, 

 when base of mandible covered with a soft cere." Coues also 

 says that the sy.iecies inhabits "both coasts and islands of the 

 north Pacific to Lower California and Japan;" that it is "not 

 specially Arctic;" and that it has bred as far south as the 



