1 74 SYS TEMA TIC S YiYOPSIS. —PYG OP ODES — AL CM. 



plumbeous, extending arouud head, neck, and fore-breast, along sides of body, and on lining of 

 wings, fading to white on belly and crissum. No special states of bill or plumage known. 

 Length 8.00-9.50; extent 1(3.00-18.50; wing 4.75-5.25; tail 1.50-1.75; tarsus about 1.00; 

 middle toe and claw 1.40; outer 1.30; inner 1.10; culmen 0.75; gape 0.90; gonys 0.00; 

 depth of bill at base 0.40, width 0.30. Pacific coast of North America, Aleutians to Lower 

 California, breeding S. to the Farallones, and San Geronimo Island, lat. 30°; egg white, 

 1.80 Xl-35. 



SYNTHLIBORHAM'PHUS. (Gr. <Tvi>e\il3co, sunthliho, I compress ; pdficpos, hramplws, beak.) 

 Nipper-nosed Murrelets. Of moderate size and stout form ; witli or without a crest. Bill 

 somewhat as in Brachyrhamphus, but stouter and deeper for its length ; greatly compressed 

 throughout, its depth at base about half the length of culmen ; culmen moderately convex ; 

 gonys ascending. Nostrils sub-basal, broadly oval or nearly circular ; nasal fossae small and 

 shallow, feathered to nostrils. Feathers extending to about opposite points on culmen and 

 keel, thence retreating rapidly. Secondaries very short, as in Braclujrhamphus, the longest not 

 reaching much more than half-way from carpal joint to point of closed wing. (This style of 

 wing is characteristic of the Murrelets, whicli " paddle" the air in a peculiar way.) Tail short, 

 nearly square, of 14 broadly rounded feathers. Tarsi much compressed, like bill; transversely 

 scutellate in front and on sides, reticulate behind ; about as long as middle toe without claw. 

 AVith the general character of Brachijrhamphns, this genus differs in the deeper, stouter bill, 

 and much compressed scutellate tarsi ; it includes two very stylish species of the North 

 Pacific, subgenerically difierent from each other. Egg whitish or buffy, heavily marked with 

 brown and gray, 2.40 X 1-55. 



Analysis of Species. 



Head closely feathered ; depth of bill more than half its length ; white of sides of crown not advancing before eyes ; 



black of throat extensive. {Synthliborhamphus.) antiquus 



Head crested ; depth of bill about half its length ; white of sides of crown advancing nearly to bill ; dark of throat 



restricted. (Rhamphtsynthlipsis.) umizusume 



(Subgenus Synthliborhamphus.) 



S. anti'quus. (Lat. an^/3?<?<s, ancient ; i. e. gray-headed. Fig. 734.) Ancient Murrelet. 



Gray-headed Murrelet. Black-throated Murrelet. Adult ^ 9 > in breeding 



dress: Bill whitish or yellowish, its base and ridge black. Iris dark brown. Feet whitish or 



yellowish, the tarsus behind and both surfaces of webs black. Head black, pure above, sooty 



on chin and throat ; a conspicuous white stripe from over each 



eye to side of nape, where sometimes connected by some white 



feathers with its fellow, and spreading on sides and back of neck 



into a set of sliarp white streaks ; trace of white on each eyelid. 



Upper parts dark plumbeous, blackening on tail ; upper surface 



of wing the same, the edging all along from elbow, and exposed 



parts of primaries, blackish ; secondaries like coverts, or rather 



Fig. 734. — Black-throated Mur- (barker: basal portion of inner webs and shafts of primaries 

 relet, nat. size. . . . 



whitish ; under surfiice of wing white, mottled with dusky along 



the edge. Sides of body under wings velvety-black ; these black feathers lengthening beliind, 

 and overlying the white flanks. Anteriorly this black extends in front of wings and continues 

 on to nape of neck, where it mixes with the white streaks above said. Sooty-black of throat 

 continuous with that of sides of head as far as auriculars, beyond which it narrows to a point 

 on throat, being separated from black of nape by a large white area — an extension to auricu- 

 lars of the white which is the color of the whole under parts, except as said. Length 9.50- 

 10.50; e.vtent 16.75-18.25; wing 5.50; tail 1.60; tarsus 1.00; middle toe and claw 1.25; 

 outer 1.15; inner 1.00; culmen 0.60; gape 1.20; gonys 0.40; depth of bill at base 0.30, width 



