64 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF 



including both surfaces of the webs, probably flesh-colored in life ; dull yellow- 

 ish-white in the dried skin. 



Length " 10-00, extent 18-00" (collector's label); wing from carpus 5-00; 

 tail 1-50; tarsus -70; middle toe without claw -92, its claw -20; outer toe and 

 claw 1-10 ; inner do. -88 ; bill along culmen -60, along rictus 1-25, along gonys 

 •45, its height at base of nostrils -22, its width at same point -19. 



Young. (No. 46,5-i'7, Mus. Smiths., Sitka, July, 1866 ; just fully fledged ; the 

 bill has still the white horny knob at tip of upper and under mandible, show- 

 ing the juvenility of the specimen). — Bill very small, weak, short, imperfectly 

 developed, about a third as long as the skull; -45 along culmen; tarsus -55; 

 middle toe and claw 1-00 ; wing only 4-25. Entire upper parts blackish, much 

 darker than in the adult, with only a just appreciable shade of cinereous; the 

 scapular white present, but restricted in extent, and interrupted by imperfect 

 bars of dusky across the feathers. Entire under parts white. Everywhere, ex- 

 cept on chin, middle of abdomen, and under tail coverts, thickly marked with 

 delicate waved lines of dusky, most numerous across the throat, largest on the 

 sides and flanks, where some of the longer feathers are mostly dusky, finest on 

 the lower breast. The whitish on the sides of the head does not extend so far, 

 and merges insensibly into the dark color ; on the nape a delicate line of 

 white featliers almost forms a collar. The under wing coverts are as in the 

 adult. Bill blackish. Legs and feet anteriorly more dusky than in the adult. 

 Another specimen (No. 46,542, Mus. Smiths.), taken in January, marked 

 female, and evidentl}' hatched the preceding summer, has the size of the adult, 

 and the colors generally as in the young bird just described. But the upper 

 parts are much lighter and more decidedly cinereous, as in the adult ; the 

 scapular white well developed ; the dusky waving of the under parts confined 

 to the sides and throat. The under wing coverts are dusky along the edge of 

 the wing; but are elsewhere variegated with dull whitish; only to a small 

 degree, however, not approaching the condition seen in hypoleucus. 



In mature plumage this is a very handsome bird, and recognizable at a 

 glance by the pure white of the under parts, and blackish cinereous of the up- 

 per, relieved by the conspicuous white of the scapulars and sides of the rump. 

 It belongs to the short-legged division of the genus, being very diff'erent from 

 hypoleucus and Craveri in the proportions of the tarsus and toes. It has the 

 size and form of marrnoralus in every respect except a just fairly recognizable 

 difference in the shape of the bill. But it is quite a different species from 

 marnioratus ; so different, in fact, that no special comparison need be insti- 

 tuted. 



The recognition, in the bird here described, of Brachyrhainphus Wraiiffeli, 

 Brandt, is a matter of unusual interest, identifying, as it does, a species long 

 ago described, but almost unknown to ornithologists at large, and throwing 

 light upon what has always been a very obscure point in American ornitho- 

 logy. The writer is mainly indebted to Prof. Baird's suggestions for the for- 

 tunate direction of his investigation in this case. The present species has 

 hitherto been regarded and described b^^ American writers as the adult of the 

 well-known marmoratus, whose curious colors, as described by all authors from 

 Pennant downwards, and as figured by Audubon under the name of Uria Town- 

 sendii, have always been considered as indicative of immaturity. But numer- 

 ous specimens, in adult breeding plumage, demonstrate the falsity of this view, 

 as is satisfactorily set forth in the preceding article. Beyond the possibility of 

 a doubt, the present species is not marmoratus ; and it is certainly Wrangeli of 

 Brandt. 



Brachyrhamphus hypoledcus, Xantus. 



Brachyrhamphus hypoleucus, Xantus, Proc. Acad. Phila. Not., 1859. From Cape 



St. Lucas. Baird, eodem loco. 



Coast of California. Specs, in Mus. Smiths., and Mus. Acad. Philada. So 

 far south, in summer, as Cape St. Lucas, Lower Cal. 



[Jan. 



