ALASKA. 203 



^' The eye never tails to be arrested by this otld-lookiii^- bird, 

 with its <;reat shovel-like, lemon-yellow and red bill, as it sits 

 squatted in glnui silence on the rocky cliff-perches, regarding 

 approaeh with an air of stolid wonder. It seems to have been 

 fashioned with especial regard to the fantastic and comical. 



" This mormon, in common with one other species, .1/. cirrhata, 

 comes np from the sea, from the south, to the cliffs of the 

 islands about the 10th of May, always in pairs, never coming 

 or going in Hocks. It makes a nest of dried sea-ferns, grass, 

 moss, &c., iar back or down in some deep, rocky crevice, where 

 the Q^g when laid is generally inaccessible—nothing but blast- 

 ing-powder would reach it. 



'' It lays but a single ^g^^, large, oblong-oval, pure white, 

 and, contrary to the custom of the gulls, arries, choochkies, &c., 

 when the ^gg is removed the sea-parrot does not renew it, but 

 deserts the nest, perhaps locating elsewhere. The young chick I 

 have not been able to get— not until it comes out fledged and 

 ready for fliglit in August, when it does not differ materially 

 from its parent. The species leaves the islands about the lOtU 

 September. 



" This bird is very quiet and unobtrusive f it does not come 

 in large numbers to the islands, for it breeds everywhere else 

 in Bering Sea. Its flight is performed with quick and rapid 

 wing-beats, in a straight and steady course. There is no ditt'er- 

 ence' between the sexes as to size, shape, or plumage.*' 



619. Fcaterciila cirrliata, (Pall.) STErii.— J(//^«7 P»^«. "Tawpa^- 



kie." 

 Alca cirrhaia, Pall. Spic. Zool., 7, pi. 1, ii, fig. 1, 2, 3, (17G9.) 

 ' Ltniila cirrhata, Pall. Zoog. R. A., ii. 363, p. 82, (1811.)— 



SCHLEG. Mus. Pays-Bas, rnH.27, (1807.)— CouES. Pr. Phila. 



Aca(L,(1868.) 

 Lnnda {Gymnohleplianim) cirrhata, Bijandt. Bull. Sc. St. Petersb.,. 



vii., 244,(1867.) 

 Fratcrcula cirrhata, Stepit. Shaw's Gen. Zool., xiii, 40, (1825.) 

 Fratcrcida {G!im)whle2)harHm) cirrhata, Biiandt. Bull. Sc. St. 



Peteisb., ii, 349, (1837.) 

 Morr.ion cirrhata, Xaum. Isis, 781, pi. 7, f. 1, (1821.)— Cass. B. 



N. A., 902, (1858.)— Dall Sc Banx. Trans. Chicago Acad., i, 



308, (1969.) 

 Fratcrcula carinata, Vigors. Zool. Journ., iv, 358. 

 Sagmatorhina lathami, Bp. P. Z. S., 202, pi. 44, (1851.)-Coues. 



Pr. Phila. Acad., (1868.) 

 Sagmatorhina labradoria, Cass. B. N. A., 904, (1858.)— Dall it 



Bann. Trans. Chic. Acad., i, 309, (1869.) 



