ALCID.E — THE AUKS — CYCLORRHYXCHUS. 



515 



starved; these were the only birds of this sioecies which he saw. The Eskimos 

 about Kotzebue Sound and Tort Clarence make so nuu-h use of the small orange- 

 colored plates at the base of the bill of this bird for ornamenting their water-proof 

 frocks, that it was evident that it must have extensive breeding-places in that 

 vicinity. 



Eggs of this species from St. Paul's Island, in the Behring Sea, collected by Mr. 

 Elliott, are of a pure chalky-white color, and of an oblong oval shape, with rounded 

 ends. They measure 2.10 inches in length by 1.45 in breadth. 



Gexus CYCLORRHYNCHUS, Kaup. 



PJialcris, Temm. Man. Orn. II. 1820, 929 (part). 



Cyclorrhynchus, Kaup. Eiitw. Eur. Thierw. 1829, 15 (type, Alca jisittacula, Pall.). 



Ombria, Eschscholtz, Zool. Atl. pt. iv. 1831, 3 (same type). 



Char. Bill iiuicli compressed, the maxilla blunt at the end, and with the culmen and tomium 

 both decidedly convex ; mandible strongly falcate, both gonys and tomium being greatly curved 

 upward toward the tip, which is very acute ; nasal shield not extending to the culmen, and bill 



C. psittaculus. 



destitute of accessory deciduous appendages. Plumage dull (dusky above and white below), orna- 

 mented only by a single longitudinal postocular series of slender white tilanientous feathers. 



The form of the bill in this genus is unique, separating it trenchantly from Siinorhynchus, its 

 nearest ally. But one species is known. 



Cyclorrhynchus psittaculus. 



THE PARROT AUK. 



Alca imttacula. Pall. Spic. Zool. V. 1760, 13, \A. 2, and pi. 5, figs. 4, 5, 6. 



Plmleris psittacuJa, Temm. Man. II. 1820, 929. — Coues, Key, 1872, 342; Check List, 1873, no. 



621 ; Elliott's Alaska, 1875, 204. — RlDGW. Nom. N. Am. B. 1881, no. 747. 

 Ombria xtsitlacula, Escnscn. Zool. Atl. IV. 1831, 3, pi. 17. — Cass, in P.aird's B. N. Am. 1858, 410. 



— Baied, Cat. N. Am. B. 1859, no. 725. — Elliot, Illustr. Am. B. I. 1869, pi. 70. 

 Simorhynchics 2}sittacuhis, Schleg. Mus. P.-B. IX. 18*37, 24. — Coites, Pr. Ac. Nat. Sci. Philad. 



1868, 36, fig. 6 (bill) ; 2d Check List, 1882, no. 858. 



