32 



" This species is the largest of the subfamily, which is well known to con- 

 tain the dwarfs of the water birds ; it is one-third larger than Ceratorrhina 

 monocerata, of which it has precisely the coloring, wanting only (at least in 

 the state we have it) the little white feathers above the eye and at the corners 

 of the mouth. The proportions of the wings, tail, feet aud toes are the same ; 

 the bill and toes must have been reddish ; the cere and membranes black. 

 Like the Ceratorrhina. it seems to be confined to the north-western Arctic 

 region of America; and we are led to believe it does not extend to the Sibe- 

 rian shores, from the circumstance of its not having been noticed by Russian 

 naturalists." 



Fig. 3. — Sagmatorrhina Lathami, By. Nat. size. 



The preceding is Bonaparte's notice of the species, containing all that is 

 known about it by American ornithologists. The writer takes pleasure in 

 acknowledging his indebtedness to Dr. P. L. Sclater, of London, for the accom- 

 panying figure, drawn from the type specimen in the British Museum. Dr. 

 Svilater says very positively that the bird is a perfectly valid genus and species, 

 and the figure evidently warrants the assertion. Independently of the differ- 

 ence between the cere and the horn, the shape of the bills of C. monocerata and 

 S. Lathami are quite diverse. The dimensions of the latter are much larger 

 than those of the former. 



Sagmatorrhina Suckleti, [Cass.) Coites. 



Cerorhina SuMeyi, Cassin, Baird's B.N. A. 1858, p. 906. Based on spec. No. 



4579, Mus. Smiths. Young. Puget Sound. Cooper and Suckley, Pacific R. R. 



Rep, xii, pt. ii, 1860, p. 284. Refers to same specimen. 



American and Asiatic Coasts of the Pacific. Spec, in Mus. Smiths Inst — 

 Young, (type of the species, Puget Sound ;) adult, breeding plumage (San 

 Diego, Cal.) Adult, (Hakodadi, Japan.) 



Adult! breeding plumage! (No. 31908,* Mus. Smiths, $, San Diego, Cal. 

 Feb. .3, 1862, J. G. Cooper.) " Iris white; bill black and orange; feet pale 

 yellow, black below," (label.) Bill now obscure yellow, the culmen and basal 

 membrane blackish. Feet dull whitish ; tarsi behind and feet below blackish ; 

 claws black. Colors of the plumage almost precisely as in the adult monoce- 

 rata; white feathers on sides of head exactly the same. Breast rather deeper 

 grayish-ash, the color extending a little further, and more abruptly defined 

 against the white of the other under parts. 



* Figured in Elliot's Birds of North America, 



