ALCID^ — PHALERIDIN.E: AUKLETS, ETC. 



1077 



B. breviros'tris. (Lat. short-billed; brevis, short; rostrum, beak.) Short-billed Mur- 

 RELET. Vigors' Murrelet. Kittlitz's Murrelet. Closely related to marmoratus : 

 belonging to same subgenus, having tarsus shorter than middle toe without claw. Bill hardly 

 •J as long as head. Adult (J 9 > i" summer : Above, cinereous of lighter and darker shades, 

 fully sjiotted and barred with dull yellowish, except on wings, which are plain dusky, with 

 whitish tips of median and greater coverts and inner secondaries ; no white on scapulars ; lat- 

 eral tail-feathers largely white. Below, white, extensively mottled and barred with dusky 

 and the buff or tawny yellowish of the upper parts, especially along sides and across breast. 

 Bill black ; feet light; eyes brown. Adults in winter: Differing precisely as £. marmoratus 

 does from summer plumage. Above, cinereous or plumbeous, nearly uniform, without any 

 buff markings, but darker on head, nmch white on scapulars and ends of inner secondaries, 

 forming conspicuous patches, and whitish tips of feathers of back, rump, and tail. Below, pure 

 white, with dark touches on sides and flanks, and a dark band extending on sides of fore breast 

 nearly to median line ; the white invading side of head to include eye, but leaving an isolated 

 dark spot about eye, and almost forming a collar around back of neck. Bill, eyes, and claws 

 black; feet pale bluish, darker behind. Length 9.00 or more ; wing averaging 5.40; culmen 

 0.45 or less ; depth of bill at base 0.25 or less ; tarsus O.GO-0.65 ; middle toe alone 0.85-0.95. 

 North Pacific, both sides, from Japan and Kamtschatka through the Aleutians to Unalashka ; 

 apparently not common, on North American side at any rate, and only lately become well 

 known : best figures, from originals of present description, in Nelson's Rep. Alaska, 1887, 

 p. 44, pi. 1 (summer plumage, late in May), and Turner's Cont. Alaska, 1886, p. 120, pi. 2 

 (winter plumage, Apr. 24). The bird is found with Ancient and Marbled Murrelets ; it lays 

 a single white egg in the herbage on ledges and cliffs. Uria brevirostris ViG. Zool. Journ. iv, 

 1828, p. 357, ascribed to Mexico ! Brachyramphus brevirostris Stej. Zeit. Ges. Orn. iii, 



1886, p. 211; RiDGW. Man. 1887, p. 15. Uria antiqua Aud. 1839, folio pi. 402, fig. 2; 

 1844, 8vo pi. 470, fig. 2 (not fig. 1 of these plates, which is Synthliborhamphus antiquus). 

 Brachyramphus kittlitzii Brandt, 1837; A. 0. U. Lists, 1886-95, No. 24; Ridgw. Man. 



1887, p. 15. Brachyrhamphus kittlitzi of the Key, 2d-4th eds. p. 813. 



(Subgenus Micruria.) 



B. hypoleu'cus. (Gr. vtto, hiipo, below ; XevKos, leukos, white.) White-bellied Murre- 

 let. Xantus' Murrelet. Adult ^ ? : Bill ^ the head, f tlie tarsus, very slender ; 

 tarsus equal to middle toe without claw. 

 Entire ui)per parts unvaried dark cine- 

 reous, slightly darker on head, extending 

 to include eyelids, and a little farther 

 down on nape; thence in a straight line 

 along middle of side of neck to shoulders, 

 and along sides of body in a strip nearly 

 an inch broad; elongated Hank-feathers 

 also of this color; other under parts pure 

 white, including lining of wings. Pri- 

 maries black, the greater jjart of their 

 shafts and inner webs whitish. Bill 

 black, base of lower mandible pale; feet 

 whitish -blue, black below. Length 

 10.00-10.50; extent 16.00-17..50 ; wing 

 4.75; tail 1.75; tarsus 0.95; middle to,^ without claw 0.95, its claw 0.20; outer toe and claw 

 1.10; inner 0.90; bill 0.80; gape 1.30; gonys 0.45; depth of bill at base 0.22; width 0.19. 

 Southern and Lower California, resident. 



m- 



Craveri's Murrelet, nat. size. (From Elliott.) 



