858. 
806 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. —PYGOPODES. 
gray; under parts from the breast pure whifPenading insensibly into the color of the sides and 
flanks. Inner webs of wing- and tail-feathers grayish-brown, paler toward base, the shafts of 
the primaries dull whitish at base. Length 15.50; extent 26.00; wing 7.25; tail 2.50; tarsus 
1.20; middle toe and claw 1.85 ; outer do. 1.70; inner do. 1.40; chord of culmen without horn 
1.00, with horn 1.40; gape 2.00; nostril to tip of horn 0.75 ; total depth of bill, including horn, 
1.25. In winter: Plumage the same; iris white; no horn nor accessory piece under the bill, 
these being shed; place of horn oceupied by a soft dark-colored basement membrane or cere 
(‘‘ Sagmatorhina suckleyi,” Fig. 537). Young: Bill like that of adults in winter, lacking 
horn, but every way weaker, hardly more than half as large. Mostly dark-colored. No white 
feathers on side of head. White of under parts overlaid and marbled with dark-gray ends of 
the feathers ; black of upper parts brownish. The first spring the horn grows, the accessory 
piece develops, and the plumage clears up. Nestlings are covered with smoky-brown down. 
Both coasts and islands of N. Pacific, to Lower California and Japan; not specially arctic; 
e. g., breeds on the Farallone Islands. 
SIMORHYN’/CHUS. (Gr. cmos, simos, snub-nosed; piyxos, hrugchos, beak.) SNUB-NOSED 
Avuxks. Of moderate and very small size, and stocky shape. Head usually crested or with 
peculiar feathers. Bill of indeterminate shape, differing with each species, furnished with a 
varying nuinber of deciduous horny elements. Nostrils entirely unfeathered. Wings and tail 
ordinary. Feet small; tarsi shorter than middle toe, entirely reticulate; toes long, middle and 
outer of about equal lengths, claw of the former longest ; inner claw reaching base of middle ; 
all curved and compressed. Four species, very distinct; the queerest little auks in the world. 
Each has been made type of a genus; S. psittaculus differs more from the rest than these do 
from one another, and might stand apart as a genus (Phaleris), the others being rated as sub- 
genera (Simorhynchus proper, Tylorhamphus, and Ciceronia). 
Analysis of Species. 
Upper mandible oval, lower mandible falcate, rictus curved upward. No crest (Phaleris) . psittaculus 855 
Upper mandible triangular, lower straight, rictus horizontal, sinuate. 
A long frontal crest, curling over forward. 
One series of white feathers on each side of head (Simorhynchus proper) . . . . . eristatellus 859 
More than one series of white feathers on each side of head (Tylorhamphus) . +. %. pygmaeus 860 
Short white hair-like feathers over the forehead; no crest (Ciceronia). . . . ... . . pusillus 861 
S. psitta/eulus. (Lat. psittaculus, a little parrot. Fig. 439.) Parroquer AuK. PuG- 
NOSED Auk. Bill moderately large, much compressed, densely feathered for some distance at 
base, but not to the nostrils, which are narrowly 
oval, overhung by a projecting scale or shield, 
which is deciduous. Profile of bill oval; of 
upper mandible narrowly oval; culmen gently 
convex, declinate, toinial edge more convex, ac- 
clinate, meeting at an obtuse tip; lower mandi- 
ble extremely slender, faleate, curved upward, 
with concave tomia, very convex gonys, and 
acute point. Frontal feathers embracing cul- 
men with a reéntrance, thence dropping per- 
pendicularly to commissure; those on lower 
FiG. 539. — Parroquet Auk, nat. size. (Adnat.del. mandible not reaching quite so far; interramal 
H. W. Elliott.) space fully feathered. Adult: In summer with 
the nasal saddle, moulted in one piece in winter; shape of bill not materially altered, however. 
the piece being small and flattish. Bill vermilion or coral-red, usually enamel-yellow at trp 
and along edges. No curly crest on forehead, but a series of long white filamentous feathers 
from the eye downward and backward. Entire upper parts, with chin, throat, breast, and 
