510 THE DIVING BIRDS — PYGOPODES. 



Phaleris pygmaeus. 



THE WHISKERED AUK. 



Alca pygmtm, Gmel. S. N. I. ii. 178S, 555 (= young; based on Pygmy Auk, Penn. Aret. Zool. 



no. 431). 

 Simorhynehus pygmceus, Brandt, Mel. Zool. vii. 1S69, 228. — Ridgw. Pr. U. S. Nat. Mus. 1880, 



211 ; Nom. N. Am. B. 1881, no. 749. — CoUES, 2d (/heck List, 1SS2, no. S60. 

 Aim Kamtschatica, LEPECHIN, Nova Acta Petrop. XII. 1801, 369, pi. 8 (= adult). 

 Phaleris camlschatica, Brandt, Bull. Ac. St. Petersb. II. 1837, 347. — Cassin, in Baird's B. N. Am. 



1858, 90S. — Baiiid, Cat. N. Am. B. 1859, no. 721. 

 Simorhynchus camtschaticus, Schleg. Mus. P.-B. Urin. 1867, livr. ix. p. 25. — Coues, Pr. Ac. Nat. 



Sei. Philad. 1S68, 41 ; Key, 1872, 342 ; Check List, 1S73, no. 623. 

 Una mystacea, Pall. Zoog. Rosso-As. II. 1826, 372, pi. 89. 

 Phaleris cristaiella, Temm. PI. Col. 200 (not of authors). 

 Mormon superciliosum, Licht. Verz. Doubl. 1S23, 89. 

 .Simorhynehus Cassini, Coues. Pr. Philad. Acad. 1868, 44 (Ounimak Pass, Aleutian Islands ; = 



young). 



Hab. Coasts and islands of the North Pacific, from Unalashka through the Aleutian chain to 

 Kamtschatka. 



Adult $ , nuptial plumage (85617, Atkha Island, Aleutian chain, June, 1879 ; L. M. Turner): 

 Above, glossj blackish slate, appearing more plumbeous in certain lights, especially on the rump ; 

 wings and tail dull brownish black. Lower parts sooty plumbeous, darker anteriorly, and nearly 

 while posteriorly, the crissum being quite white ; entire sides and flanks uniform deep, slightly 

 smoky, plumbeous, like the breast. Head ornamented by an erect, gracefully recurved crest of 

 narrow plumes of dull black, about 1.50 inches long (when straightened out); anterior half of the 

 lores covered with a triangular patch of pure while pointed feather-tips, this patch bifurcating 

 posteriorly, and continued in one branch downward and backward across the cheeks, the white 



Summer adult. Young. 



filamentous tips becoming very long and lanceolate or acicular posteriorly ; the upper branch 

 extending to each side of the crown, where spring three very narrow dull white, slightly recurved 

 filaments, nearly as long as the crest, and originating on the same transverse line as the latter; 

 another series of yellowish white filaments originates immediately beneath the eye, and extends 

 backward along tin.' upper border of the auriculars, the posterior ones extending about an inch 

 beyond the terminal portion of the auricular region. Bill in dried skin dull, rather dark, coral- 

 red, the tip fust dark grayish, then white ; in life, " deep vermilion, with bluish tip" (Tcener): 

 " iris blackish blue" (Turner) or white (Stejneger) ; feet "dusky" in life, dark brown in dried 

 skin. Wing, 4.20 inches ; culmen, .35 ; greatesl depth of bill, .30, width at base, .28 ; tarsus, .80 ; 

 middle toe, .S5. 



(Another adult male from the same locality, and collected about the same date, is similar, except 

 that the superciliary filaments arc pore white, while the crest is light brownish gray. Wing, 4.10 

 inches ; culmen .30 ; greatest depth of bill, .30 ; tarsus, .85 ; middle toe, .90.) 



