ALCID^E — THE AUKS — LUND A. 



531 



fashioned with especial regard to the fantastic and the comical. In common with 

 tlie cirrhata, it conies up from tlie sea, from the south, to the cliffs of the islands 

 about the 10th of May, always in pairs, never coming or going in flocks. It makes a 

 nest of dried sea-ferns, grass, moss, etc., far back or down in some deep rocky crevice, 

 where the egg when laid is generally inaccessible. It lays but a single Qgg, large, 

 oblong-oval, pure white ; and, contrary to the custom of Gulls, Arries, Choochkies, 

 etc., when the egg is removed the Sea Parrot does not renew it, but deserts the nest, 

 probably locating elsewhere. The young chick Mr. Elliott Avas not able to get until it 

 emerged fully fledged and ready for flight, in August, when it does not differ materi- 

 ally from its parent ; it leaves the islands about the lOtli of September. This bird is 

 said to be very quiet and unobtrusive, and not to come to the islands in large num- 

 bers, and to breed everywhere else in Behring's Sea. Its flight is performed with 

 quick and rapid wing-beats, in a straight and steady course. There is no difference 

 between the sexes as to size, shape, or plumage. 



The egg is noticeably more elongate than are those of Fratercula arctica or Lunda 

 cirrhata, though not more pointed. The shell is rough and of a dead white, and, so 

 far as known, without any obscure or obsolete marking of the other species. The 

 specimens measure about 2.75 inches in length, and 1.75 in their larger breadth. 



Genus LUNDA, Pallas. 



Limda, Pall. Zoos;. Rosso- As. II. 1826, 363 (type, Aha cirrhata. Pall.). 

 Sa<jmatorMna, Bonap. P. Z. S. 1851, 252 (type, S. Latliavii, Bp., = Lunda cirrhata, .I'liv.!). 

 Gijninohlcphancm, Brandt, Bull. Sc. St. Petersb. II. 1837, 349 (type, Alca cirrhata, Pall.). 

 Chcniscas, Gray, Cat. Gon. & Subgeii. B. Brit. Mus. 1855, 127 (.same type ; not of Eyton, 1838). 



Char. Similar to Fratercula, but nasal shield rapidly increasing in width toward the top, 

 where torming a thickened, slightly arched ridge nearly equal in length to the culmcn ; mandible 



L. cirrhata., summer adult. 



smooth, without grooves ; eyelids without horny appendages ; head ornamented by a decurved 

 superciliary tuft of long, silky, straw-colored feathers. Lower parts dusky. 



