1080 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — PYGOPODES — ALCjE. 



of coverts. Plumage and its changes otherwise as in grylle; general habits and nesting the 

 same ; eggs indistinguishable. Asiatic and American coasts and islands of the North Pacific, 

 S. to Japan and southern California. 



Obs. — C. snow'i. (To Capt. H. J. Snow of Yokohama.) Snow's Guillemot. Described as like C. columba, 

 with black wings, only relieved by wliite tips of the larger coverts ; lining of wings smoky-gray ; no white about eyes ; 

 tail-feathers 14. Kurile Islands. St. Auk, April, 1897, p. 201. 



C. car'bo. (Lat. carbo, a coal ; i. e. black. Fig. 739.) Sooty Guillemot. Spectacled 

 Guillemot. Like columba; larger, especially the bill. No white on either surface of wing. 

 A pair of white spectacles on eyes, and whitish about base of bill. General plumage and its 

 changes as in others of the genus ; bill and feet the same ; tail of 14 feathers. Length 14.00- 

 15.00; wing 7.75; tail 2. .50; tarsus 1.50; middle toe and claw 2.10; bill 1. .55-1.70 along cnl- 

 men, along gape 2.20, from feathers on side of lower mandible 1.50; depth at base 0.50; width 

 0.38. North Pacific in higher latitudes ; Sea of Okhotsk ; Bering Island ; Japan ; breeds on 

 the Kurile Islands, but is only hypothetically North American. Cep2)lms carbo Pall. 1811 ; 

 A. 0. U. Hypothetical List, No. 3. Uria carbo of former editions of the Key. 



Subfamily ALLIN>E: Sea Doves. 



The characters of this subfamily are coincident with those of its single genus Alle. 

 AL'LiE. (Swedish name of the bird.) Sea Doves. Size small; form squat and bunchy. 

 Bill very short, stout, and obtuse, as wide as high at base ; sides of both mandibles turgid, 

 edge of upper much inflected ; culmen very convex ; rictus ample, decurved at end ; gonys 

 straight, very short; mandibular rami correspondingly long, widely divaricated, the space be- 

 tween them extensively feathered ; nasal fosste short, wide, deep, partly feathered. Nostrils 

 sub-basal, sub-circular. Wings rather long for this family; tail much rounded, of 12 nar- 

 row pointed feathers. Feet small and weak ; tarsus shorter than middle toe and claw, 

 scarcely compressed, broadly scutellate in front, finely reticulate behind. 



A. al'le. (The specific name duplicates the generic. Fig. 740.) Little Auk. Sea-dove. 

 Dovekey, Dovekee or Dovekie. Rotch, Rotche or Rotges. Alle. Adult $ 9) in 

 summer : Head, neck, and upper parts, glossy blue-black ; sides of head and neck with throat 

 and juguluui sooty brown; scapulars edged and secondaries tipped with wiiite, forming con- 

 spicuous patches ; touches of white about eyes. Under 

 parts from the chest pure white, some long feathers of 

 flanks rayed with black ; lining of wings dusky. Bill 

 black ; mouth yellow ; feet black behind and below, in 

 front and above flesh-colored; eyes brown. In winter: 

 White of under parts extending to bill, and nearly around 

 sides of neck. Young in winter : Like winter adults, but 

 ^ „,„ upper parts duller; bill smaller; feet dusky greenish, the 



Fig. 740. — Sea-dove, nat. size. \ -, o 



scales obscured. Downy young: Smoky gray, paler 



below. Length 8.50; extent 15.50; wing 4.75-5.25 ; tail 1.50; tarsus 0.80; middle toe and 



claw 1.20; outer 1.15; inner 0.85; chord of culmen 0.50; gape 1.00; gonys 0.20; height or 



width of bill at base 0.35. North Atlantic, both coasts, and Polar seas; in North America 



S. in winter to the Middle States or beyond. Overtaken by storms at this season, this little 



bird is not seldom blown inland — to Michigan, for instance. It is very abundant at its 



breeding grounds in the far North, being one of the most boreal of birds. Egg single, 1.60- 



1.85 X 1.10-1.25, pale greenish-blue, unmarked. (Mergulus alle of 1st and Alle nigricans of 



2d-4th eds. of Key.) 



