ALCID.E — THE AUKS — URIA. 483 



Examples of this species obtained by Dr. Biyant on Gannet Rock, in the Gulf of 

 St. Lawrence, have a ground of cream-color, and the markings are black. They 

 measure 3.25 inches in length, and from 2.00 to 2.05 in breadth. 



Uria troile californica. 



THE CALIFORNIAN GUILLEMOT. 



Uria troile, Newb. racilic R.K. Rep. VI. iv. 1857, 110 (not Col ymbus t roil c, Linx.). 



Uria Brwinichii, Heekm. lb. X. 1859, Birds. 75 (not of Sabine, 1818). 



Catarradcs californicus, Buyant, Pr. Boston Soo. 1861, 11, figs. 3, 5 (Farallon Islands, coast of Cali- 

 fornia). 



Lomvia californica, CouES, Pr. Ac. Xat. Sei. Pliilad. 1862, 79, fig. 16. 



Lomvia troile, var. californica, CouES, Key, 1872, 316 ; Elliott's Alaska, 1875, 210. 



Lomvia troile californica, Ridgw. Pr. U. S. Nat. ilus. Vol. 3, 1880, 212 ; Noni. N. Am. B. 1881, no. 

 763«. — CouEs, 2d Check List, 1882, no. 875. 



Hab. Pacific coast of iSTorth America, breeding from California (Farallones) north to the 

 Prybilof Island.s, and across Aleutian chain to Kamtschatka. 



Sp. Char. Similar in colors, in all stages, to typical troile, but averaging larger in all its 

 measurements, except the lengtli of the tarsus, which is slightly .shorter ; all the outlines of the 

 bill usually less curved thau in troile. 



Total length, about 16.00 inches; extent, 27.00 ; wing, 7.85-8.80 (average, 8.3f)) ; culmen,l.GO- 

 2.05 (1.86) ; gonys, 1.15-1.40 (1.27) ; depth of bill through angle, .55-62 (.57); tarsus, 1.3.5-1.60 

 (1.50) ; nuddle toe, 1.65-1.90 (1.74).i 



The characters adduced by authors for distinguishing this race from true troile of the Xorth 

 Atlantic we find exceedingly variable, and practically entirely inconstant, the individual variation 

 in the contour of the bill being very great, as may be seen by the measurements given above. All 

 the dimensions, however, are almost constantly and decidedly larger. 



This appears to be the Pacific representative of U. troile, and is, so far as America 

 is concerned, confined to the Pacific coast, from Southern California to Alaska. ^Ir. 

 Dall states that it was obtained, with its eggs, both at Sitka and at Kadiak. He 

 after \vard found it at Unalashka, in company with Simorhijnchns cristctdlus, but 

 much less common than that species. In his Xotes on the Birds of the Aleutian 

 Islands west of Unalashka he speaks of this species as being abundant, and a[)parently 

 a resident all through the islands. It is less common and more shy than the Cejjphns 

 columba, but, unlike that species, congregating in immense flocks a few miles off shore. 

 He has never met with the columha in large flocks — never more than two or three 

 individuals together. 



Dr. Cooper, when at Monterey in May, 18G2, noticed these birds in the open bay. 

 Their presence there at that season seemed strange, and rendered it probable that 

 they were breeding in the vicinity. Dr. Cooper also remarks that the chief local- 

 ity — indeed the only one known to him — to which this species resorts during the 

 breeding-season is the Farallones. There these birds swarm, clustering like bees on 

 every ledge and slope of the ragged peaks which constitute these islands, and deposit- 

 ing their eggs on the bare rock. Each bird, if undisturbed, lays but a single egg, 

 which, it incubates in a standing position. It is able to walk tolerably well when 

 standing nearly erect. 



The abundance and the large size of the eggs of this species have made them a 

 valuable article of import to San Prancisco. The Farallones, twenty-five miles from 

 the mouth of the bay of San Francisco, are admirably situated for furnishing this 



1 Average measurements of thirteen adults. 



