9i8 THE AXCIEXT M rRRKLET. 



(ieneral Range. — North I'acitic hiuI lU-ring Sea, south regularly to Sitka and 

 Japan; caMially ( ?) to Washington. 



Range in Washington. — Casual ( ?) in winter on I'uget Soumi. 



Authorities. — Si)iiorliyiicliHS l^iisilhis ( ? ) , Rhoads, Auk, \'i>l. X. Jan. 1S93, 

 p. U\ 17. 



\\"H htinians are .so ini])ressed with tlie majesty of tlie ocean that we 

 somehow ex])ect its familiar denizens to keep ])ace with it. "Leviathan" is the 

 s_\nil)ol of marine a(|u;itic life, and the Wandering Alhalross with his 

 fourteen-foot expanse of wing is consiilered to have arisen to the occasion in 

 matching" the ocean's might. It gives one a whimsical sense of incongruity, 

 therefore, to see a mere dot of a liird extricate itself from the confusion of 

 waters and go winging ahout its own business. W hat im])udence is this? or 

 what oversight of old Xeptune is it whicli permits this midget to cross un- 

 cli.'irted leagues and to conduct itself in all ways like a grown-up .■■ 



The autlmritv for including this as a Washington bird appears to rest u])- 

 on the accmuit nf a wounded bird ])ursued but not taken by Mr. Ivlwards, 

 senior, mi L'l mimencement r)a\' in the winter fd" 1888. We have also seen what 

 must have been these birds in the same waters, where ^barbled Mm"relets 

 notabh' abound. 



Nelson sa\'s ; "Of all the water f<iwl nf liering Sea this trim little bii'd is 

 the most abundant. * * As we la_\- at .anchor close under the Big 1 )iomede 

 (in FJering Strait ) the cliffs arose almost sheer for hundreds of feet. (lazing 

 up toward line nf these banks we could see the air filled with minute black 

 specks, which seemed to be floating by in an endless stream. The roar from 

 the laish of waves against the base of the cliffs was deadened by the stnmge 

 luunming chorus of faint cries fruni mxriads i>f small thrnats, and as we 

 landed, a glance ui)ward showed the island standing out in bold, jagged relief 

 against the skv, and surrounded by such inconcei\-able numbers of Hying birds 

 that it could onl\- be likened to a \ast bee-hi\e, with the swarm of liees ho\-er- 

 ing about it." 



No. 369. 



ANCIENT MURRELET. 



A. O. U. No. 21. Synthliboramphus antiquiis (('imel.). v 



Description. — .Idnlts in hrccdimi f^hiinai/c: Mead and neck sooty brown, 

 blackening on crown, an invasion of white from niiderparts on sides of neck; a 

 white stripe, made up of sharply-projecting white feathers, starts over each eye 

 and, running obliquelv backward and dciwnward, nearly meets fellow on nape; 

 touch of white on each eyelid; upperparts in general dark bluish ash, becoming 

 sooty on edges and wing-tips; shoulders shar])ly streaked with white; luiderparts 



