ALCHXE — THE AUKS — PTYCHORAMPHUS. 517 



Choochkie, but will not follow it upon the uplands, being found only on the shore- 

 line. It is the Baillic Brushkie of the natives, the Paroquet Auk of authors. 



The egg — which is laid upon the bare earth or rock — is pure white, oblong-ovate, 

 measuring 2.50 by 1.50 inches. It is exceedingly difficult to obtain, owing to the 

 bird's great caution in hiding it, and care in selecting for that purpose some deep and 

 winding crevice in the face of the cliff. At the entrance to this nesting-cavern the 

 parent will sometimes squat down and sit silently for hours at a time, if undisturbed. 

 This bird does not fly about in flocks, but seems to lead a quiet, independent life by 

 itself, apparently not caring to associate with its kind. The young, by the 10th to 

 the 15th of August, may be observed for the first time coming out from their secure 

 retreat and taking to wing, being then as fully fledged and as large as their parents. 

 They take their departure from the 20th of August to the 1st of September, and go 

 out upon the North Pacific for the winter, where they find their food, which consists 

 of Amphipoda and fish-fry. Mr. Elliott has never seen one, among the thousands 

 that were around him, opening bivalve shells, as this bird has been said by Professor 

 Brandt to do. It feeds at sea, flying out every morning, returning in the afternoon. 



The shape of its egg is extremely variable. One measures 2.25 inches by 1.50, 

 and another 2.35 by 1.45, the latter example being remarkably narrow, elongate, 

 and pointed. The shell is minutely granular, and rough to the touch ; it is white, 

 unmarked, but often found variously soiled and discolored— sometimes by mechan- 

 ical effect, and sometimes by the fluids of the cloaca. So effectually did these birds 

 secrete their eggs in the deep crevices of the cliffs, that Mr. Elliott was unable to 

 obtain more than four perfect specimens, although several hundreds were breeding 

 on the cliffs near the village at St. George's Island, each pair having been watched 

 closely by him during the summer of 1S73. Nothing save blasting-powder, or some 

 similar agency, could open the basaltic crevices in which this bird hides; and if this 

 were done the egg would be destroyed. 



An egg of this species in the Smithsonian Museum is of a dirty chalky-white color 

 unspotted, of an oblong-oval shape, with rounded ends, and measures 2.25 inches in 

 length by 1.60 in breadth. It was taken on St. George's Island, in Behring's Sea, 

 by Mr. H. W. Elliott. 



Genus PTYCHORAMPHUS, Brandt. 



Plychoramphux, Bkandt, Bull. Ac. St. Petersb. 11.1837, 347 (type, Uria alculica, Pall.). 



Char. Bill elongate-conical, and somewhat depressed, the maxilla being much broader than 

 deep at the base ; culmen straight for the basal halt', then gently curved ; gonys straight and 

 rapidly ascending terminally ; nostrils overhung by the prominent, flaring edge of the nasal mem- 

 brane, or shield, which in the breeding-season is more or less corrugated above. Head entirely 

 destitute of any ornamental plumes or crest ; plumage plain slaty above, whitish beneath. 



Ptychoramphus aleuticus. 



THE ALEUTIAN AUK. 



Uria aleutica, Pall. Zoog. Rosso- As. II. 1826, 370. 



Ptychoramphus aleuticus, Brandt, Bull. Ac St. Petersb. II. 1837, 347. — Cass, in Band's B. N.Am. 



1858, 910. — Baim), Cat. N. Am. B. 1859, no. 724. — Coues, Pr. Ac. Nat. Sci. Philad. 1868, 52; 



Key, 1872, 343; Check List, 1873, no. 625; ed. 2, 1882, no. 862. — Eidgw. Nom. N. Am. B. 



1881, no. 751. 

 Mergulus Cassinii, Gambel, Pr. Ac. Nat. Sci. Philad. 1845, 266 (coast of California) ; .Tourn. Ac. Nat. 



Sci. Philad. II. 1850, pi. 6. 



