806 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — PYGOPODES. 



gray; under parts from the breast pure white, shading insensibly into the color of the sides and 

 flanks. Inner webs of wing- and tail-feathers grayish-brown, paler toward base, the shafts of 

 the primaries dull whitish at base. Length 15.50 ; extent 26.00; wing 7.25 ; tail 2.50 ; tarsus 

 1.20 ; middle toe and claw 1.85 ; outer do. 1.70 ; inner do. 1.40 ; chord of culmen without horn 

 1.00, with horn 1.40; gape 2.00 ; nostril to tip of horn 0.75 ; total depth of bill, including horn, 

 1.25. In winter : Plumage the same; iris white ; no horn nor accessory piece under the bill, 

 these being shed ; place of horn occupied by a soft dark-colored basement membrane or cere 

 (" Sagmatorhina suckleyi," Fig. 537). Young : Bill like that of adults in winter, lacking 

 hum, but every way weaker, hardly more than half as large. Mostly dark-colored. No white 

 feathers on side of head. White of under parts overlaid and marbled with dark-gray ends of 

 the feathers ; black of upper parts brownish. The first spring the horn grows, the accessory 

 piece develops, and the plumage clears up. Nestlings are covered with smoky-brown down. 

 Both coasts and islands of N. Pacific, to Lower California and Japan; not specially arctic; 

 0. g., breeds on the Farallone Islands. 

 340. SIMORHYN'CHUS. (Gr. atfios, simos, snub-nosed ; pvyxos, hrugchos, beak.) Snub-nosed 

 Auks. Of moderate and very small size, and stocky shape. Head usually crested or vrith 

 peculiar feathers. Bill of indeterminate shape, differing with each species, furnished with a 

 varying number of deciduous horny elements. Nostrils entirely unfeathered. Wings and tail 

 ordinary. Feet small; tarsi shorter than middle toe, entirely reticulate; toes long, middle and 

 outer of about equal lengths, claw of the former longest ; inner claw reaching base of middle ; 

 aU curved and compressed. Four species, very distinct ; the queerest little auks in the world. 

 Each has been made type of a genus ; S. psittaculiis differs more from the rest than these do 

 from one another, and might stand apait as a genus (Phaleris), the others being rated as sub- 

 genera (Simorhynchus proper, Tylorhamplms, and Ciceronia). 



Analysis of Species. 



Upper mandible oval, lower mandible falcate, rictus curved upward. No crest {Phaleris) . psittaculus 858 

 Upper mandible triangular, lower straight, rictus horizontal, sinuate. 

 A long frontal crest, curling over forward. 



One series of white feathers on each side of head (SJOTorftywcftMs proper) cristatellus 859 



More than one series of white feathers on each side of head (T'^//or/^an^^Jft^ts) .... jjygmmus 860 



Shortwhite hair-like feathers over the forehead; no crest (C'icero7iia) pusillus 861 



868. S. psitta'culus. (Lat. psittaculus, a little parrot. Fig. 439.) Parroquet Auk. Pug- 

 NOSED Auk. Bill moderately large, much compressed, densely feathered for some distance at 



base, but not to the nostrils, which are nan-owly 

 oval, overhung by a projecting scale or shield, 

 which is deciduous. Profile of bill oval; of 

 upper mandible narrowly oval ; culmen gently 

 convex, declinate, tomial edge more convex, ac- 

 clinate, meeting at an obtuse tip; lower mandi- 

 ble extremely slender, falcate, curved upward, 

 vrith concave tomia, very convex gonys, and 

 acute point. Frontal feathers embracing cul- 

 men with a reentrance, thence dropping per- 

 ' pendicularly to commissure ; those on lower 



Pig. 539. ^ Parroquet Auk, nat. size. (Ad nat. del. mandible not reaching quite so far; interramal 

 H. W. Elliott.) s^jace fully feathered. Adult : In summer with 



the nasal saddle, moulted in one piece in winter ; shape of bill not materially altered, however, 

 the piece being small and flattish. Bill vermilion or coral-red, usually enamel-yellow at tip 

 and along edges. No curly crest on forehead, but a series of long white filamentous feathers 

 from the eye dovniward and backward. Entire upper parts, with chin, throat, breast, and 



