ALCIDyE — THE AUKS — PHALEKIS. 509 



on St. George's. On the last island they hover in the greatest number. There arc 

 millions of them. They make no nests, but lay a single egg each, far down below 

 among loose rocks, or they deposit it deep within the crevices or chinks in the faces 

 of the cliffs. Although, owing to their immense numbers, they seem to be in a state 

 of great confusion, yet they pair off, under the rocks, upon the spot selected for 

 incubation, making during this interesting period a singular grunting or croaking 

 sound, more like a "devil's fiddle" than anything he ever heard outside of city limits. 

 A walk over their breeding-grounds at this season is exceedingly interesting and 

 amusing, as the noise of hundreds of these little birds directly under foot gives rise 

 to an endless variation of sound as it comes up from the stony holes and caverns 

 below, while the birds come and go, in and out, with bcAvildering rapidity, comically 

 blinking and fluttering. The male birds, and many of the females, regularly leave 

 the breeding-grounds in the morning, and go off to sea, where they feed on small 

 water-shrimps and sea-fleas (Avqjhijjoda), returning to their nests and sitting partners 

 in the evening. 



The Choochkie lays a single pure white egg, exceedingly variable in size and shape, 

 usually oblong oval, with the smaller end somewhat pointed. Several specimens 

 almost spherical were obtained, and others drawn out into an elongated ellipse ; but 

 the oblong-oval with the pointed smaller end is the prevailing type. The egg is very 

 large, compared with the size and weight of the parent ; average length, 1.55 inches ; 

 width, 1.12. The general aspect is much like that of a Pigeon's egg, excepting tlie 

 roughness of the shell. 



The chick is covered with a thick uniform dark grayish black down, which is 

 speedily succeeded by feathers, all darker than those of the parent are six months 

 later, at the time it takes its flight from the island for the year. The parents feed 

 their young by disgorging, and when the young birds leave they are as large and 

 heavy as the old ones. Mr. Elliott is strongly inclined to the opinion that the male 

 bird feeds the female when incubating, but was not able to verify this supposition by 

 observation, as the birds are always hidden from sight at that time. 



Mr. Dall states that he obtained specimens of this bird from the peninsula of 

 Aliaska, where it was abundant ; from Plover Bay, in Eastern Siberia, where he col- 

 lected it in person, and where the specimens were found to have the bill wider and 

 deeper than usual ; and also from St. George, one of the Prybilof Islands. 



Eggs of this species from St. Paul's Island, Behring Sea — procured by M\: 11. W. 

 Elliott — are of a pure chalky wliite color, one end more tapering than the other. 

 They measure about 1.G3 inches in length by 1.13 in breadth. 



Genus PHALERIS, Temminck. 



Phaleris, Temm. Man. Oni. 1820, p. cxii (type, AIca pygmma, Gmel.). 



Char. Similar to Simorhynclms, but bill simple, without ficcessory deciduous pieces at any 

 season. Head ornamented by several series of lengthened ornamental fdamentous featliers. 



The single species belonging to this genus resembles both tiimorhynchus and Ciceronia, being, 

 in foct, somewhat intermediate. It must be considered generically distinct, however, unless all 

 three are merged into one genus — a proposition which Ave cannot indorse. 



