126 



CRUISE OF THE STEAMER CORWIN. 



The color of the dowuy plumage above i.s of a dark .smoky gray; darker, nearly blackish oii the 

 head aud sides of neck; chin, throat, and fore neck of the same general color, scarcely paler; rest 

 of the under surface light ashy gray, with very slight if any fuliginous tinge, in strong contrast to 

 the dark line of the upi)er parts and the neck, the darker line being very sharply defined. 



The collector's label indicates the color of the feet as "bluish, very light between the toes, 

 under .side black.'" 



The iris, according to the label of No. 100380, i.s "dark gray." 



Two other specimens agree very closely with the one described above, except that in No. 

 I(i(i;?7!> the sides o( the neck are considerably darker in the middle. The bills are scarcely shorter, 

 but the tip even more abruptly truncate. 



IHmensioiia (iHc/ies itnd deciinah). 



Simorhynchus cristatellus (/'aZJ.) jlf err. [748]. Thk Crested Auk. (Plate 1.) 



Baird, Brewer, and Kidgway, Water Birds of North America, 1, p. 512. 



Downy young (U. S. Nat. Miis., No. 100374; J. E. Liitz, coll., No. 33, Otter Island, July 22, 1884.) 



The bill agrees in general shape with that of the adults in winter before the curious nuiitial 

 outgrowths have changed it so radically and is scarcely distinguishable from that of Simnrhynchus 

 pyfimnus of the corresponding age. Color, dark horny brown, lighter on terminal half of lower 

 mandible. 



The color of the downy plumage is a uniform dark, smoky, aud somewhat brownish gray, 

 .scarcely lighter on the under i)arts. 



According to the collector's label, "the legs aud feet are slate color in front, black under- 

 neath." 



Iris, according to the same authority, "gray." 



Two other specimens. No. 100373 and No. I(i0,>77, are on the whole similar to that just 

 described, but tlie under j)art8 are slightly ligliter and grayer, especially No. 100377, wiiich, 

 according to the note on the label, was " taken from the egg," and has the bill whitish, with dusky 

 tip and ba.se. 



The fourth specimen is still lighter underneath, especially on the belly, which is nearly ash 

 color, aud has besides a small white spot on the chin. It has evidently just left the egg, and its 

 size prohibits its being referred to any other species. The difiFerences mentioned may, therefore, 

 be regarded as due to individual variation. 



Dimenaioni (inches aud decimaU). 



Smithsonian Institution, Wa^hingtoti, D. C, February 22, 1884. 



