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A Monograph of the ALCID^. 



BY ELLIOTT COUES, A.M., M.D. 



Assistant Surgeon United States Army. 



"Hinc bonus Moehringivs, boni Brissonivs, Kleinivs, Linnae cet. sedin medio in omnes 

 Veritas et Naturte ordo I" — Pallas. 



The Alcidis contained in the collections of the Smithsonian Institution, 

 Washing-ton ; the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia; the Society of 

 Natural History, Boston ; the Essex Institute, Salem ; and in the private cabi- 

 net of Mr. Geo". N. Lawrence, of New York, have been examined in the prepa- 

 ration of the present memoir. The writer tenders his acknowledgements to 

 the officers having immediate charge of these collections, for numerous favors 

 shown him, in a variety of ways, during the prosecution of his researches. 



Nearly all the known species of the family are represented in the several 

 collections above named ; and the libraries of these Institutions contain all 

 needed works of reference. Being based upon such ample data, this monograph 

 ought to embody all that is known of the Alcidx in a technical point of view, 

 and constitute a fair exponent of the same. The writer ventures to indulge 

 the hope that it may not be found to fall far short of this standard. 



Before proceeding to the proper matter of the subject, it may be well to 

 glance at what has already been done in this family of birds. Following is a 

 list, in chronological order, of the principal works in Avhich Alcidm are made 

 more or less of a specialty, with remarks upon each. It is obviously by no 

 means a bibliography of the family ; only those works being noticed in which 

 some special point is presented. It may pass, however, for a reviewing sketch 

 of the literature of the subject, and as such may be valuable and helpful to the 

 student. Consultation of most of the works mentioned below is absolutely 

 necessary to a correct understanding of the subject, except in so far as it may 

 be obviated by perusal of the text of the present paper. 



I. Review of the Literature of the Family. 



Certain species oi Alcidx made their appearance in the very earliest ornitho- 

 logical writings of which we have any knowledge, long before the establish- 

 ment of the science upon any fixed and recognized basis. However desirable 

 it may be — as well in justice to early authors, as tending to bring the whole 

 subject in the strongest light — to collate and identify, as far as possible, 

 the older names of these species, the attempt to cite as authoritative names 

 and descriptions which antedate the foundation of the binomial system 

 of nomenclature would be at once embarrassing and profitless. There must 

 be a fixed initial point for the commencement of authority in the matter of 

 names in the existing system of zoological nomenclature ; otherwise a writer 

 might adopt names at pure caprice ; in which event the species he treats of 

 would be recognizable only by synonymy adduced, or descriptions appended, 

 and names would fail of their proper purpose by becoming simply indices of the 

 extent of his philological research. The date of the tenth edition of the Sys- 

 tema Naturae furnishes an unobjectionable starting-point, beyond which in- 

 vestigation need only extend from motives of curiosity ; and is on several ac- 

 counts more eligible than the date of the twelfth edition. 



Mcehring, a mononomial author whose work appeared in 1752, has very fre- 

 quently been quoted as authoritative, notably, among European authors, by 

 Gray, and among American by Cassin, Baird, Bryant and others, including the 

 present writer. Five genera of Alcidieare instituted in this work of Mahring's : 

 (1) Chenalopex, based on Alca impennis ; (2) Sphenisnts, upon Fraterculaarcttca ; 

 (3) Arctica, upon Mergulus alle ; (4) Vria (sc. JJria), upon U. grylle ; and (5) 

 Cataractes, upon Lomvia iroile. Of these five, Arctica and Cataractes have never 



