800 



SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS— PYGOPODES. 



Neither mandible grooved. Covering of bill moulted in 2 pieces. Inner lateral claw normal. 



Tarsus scutellate in front Ceratorhina 339 



Eyelids simple. Vari<uisly crested. Bill of indeterminate shape, various parts moulted in 1-7 pieces. 



No soft rosette. Inner claw normal. Tarsus reticulate Simorhynchus 340 



Eyelids simple. Not crested? Bill acute; upper mandible striate; no moult of bill known. No 



rosette. Inner claw normal. Tarsus reticulate Ptpchorhampliua 341 



Alcin.e. Nostrils more or less completely feathered. Bill of variable shape, as far as known not 

 appendaged with deciduous elements. Head not crested (except one species). Seasonal changes of 

 plumage usually marked. 

 Bill elongate, more or less slender, without vertical grooves. 



Nostrils nearly circular, incompletely feathered. Bill short and stout for this group. Tarsus 



scarcely compressed, scutellate in front Alle 342 



Nostrils broadly oval, incompletely feathered. Bill much compressed. Tail nearly even. Tarsus 



extremely compressed, scutellate in front and internally Synlhliborhamphus 343 



Nostrils oval, feathered. Bill very small, slender, acute. Tarsus reticulate . .BracJiyrhamphua 344 



Nostrils narrow, feathered. Bill about equal to tarsus. Tarsus reticulate Uria 345 



Nostrils narrow, densely feathered. Bill longer than tarsus. Tarsus scutellate in front Lomvia 346 

 Bill elongate, stout, high, narrow, vertically grooved. Nostrils linear, densely feathered. 



Wings fully developed, fit for flight Utamania 347 



Wings reduced in size, untit for flight Alca 348 



Obs. Many additional characters of these remarkable genera are given under their respective heads. 



76. Subfamily PHALERiDIN>E : Parrot Auks, etc. 



Characters as above. This subfamily contaius a number of curious birds of the Auk 

 family for which there is no single English name. With one exception (that of the Common 

 Puffin or Sea Parrot of the Atlantic) all are confined to North Pacific and Polar waters. 

 Without known exception (but qu. Ptychorhamphus f) all these birds have the bill appendaged 

 M-ith deciduous elements, which is not the case with the Alcines proper ; but the subfamily is 

 not very sharply distinguished from Alcince, such forms as Ptycliorhamphus and Alle being 

 connecting links. The genera Fratercula and Lunda are together so different from the rest 

 that some authors separate them as a family Mormonidce ; but this seems scarcely advisable. 

 FRATER'CUIiA. (Dimin. of frater, a brother : what application ?) Sea Parrots. 

 Masking Puffins : the grotesque bill being likened to the comic mask of revellers at a 



carnival, and be- 

 ing as it were put 

 on for the nuptial 

 festivities, and af- 

 terward removed. 

 Bill about as long 

 as head, about as 

 high as long, 

 extremely com- 

 pressed, with 

 nearly vertical 

 sides, its lateral 

 profile somewhat 

 triangular, its 

 depth at base 



Fig. 533. —Head of Sea Parrot (i^. arcficfi), nat. size. (Ad nat. del. E. C.) equal to that of 



the head ; culmen beginning on a level with the forehead, thence curving dovmward with regular 

 convexity to the overhanging tip, its ridge sharp and unbroken throughout ; commissure straight 

 and horizontal to the decurved tip ; gonys sharp, ascending, gently sinuous. Terminal portions 

 of both mandibles hard, h(»my, and persistent, depressed with several oblique curved grooves, 

 convex forward. Basal portion of upper mandible forming a narrow obtuse-angled triangular 



