THE TUFTED PUFFIN. gor 
WHILE far less wary than the last named species, Gavia stellata is by no 
means a conspicuous winter resident and migrant along Puget Sound water- 
ways and the Pacific Coast. If the bird-watcher has opportunity to spy upon 
one of these birds from a shore blind, he may satisfy himself only upon making 
out the white speckles of the bird’s back; for this mark alone distinguishes it 
with certainty from other Loons in winter. In spring, however, the bird may 
pass the bows of a steamer close enough to permit a good view of the rich 
chestnut gorget contrasting with surrounding gray. 
Red-throated Loons are more numerous during migrations than in win- 
ter; and this fact, as compared with G. pacifica, comports with the more 
southerly summer range of stellata. Of their occurrence in Alaska, Nelson 
says: “At Saint Michaels and the Yukon delta they arrive with the first open 
water from May 12 to 20, and by the end of this month are present in large 
numbers. Their arrival is at once announced by the hoarse, grating cries, 
which the birds utter as they fly from place to place, or float upon the water. 
When the ponds are open on the marshes the Red-throated Loons take pos- 
session, and are extremely noisy all through the first part of summer. The 
harsh gr-r-ga g!-r, gr-r-ga, ga, gr-r, rising everywhere from the marshes dur- 
ing the entire twenty-four hours, renders this note one of the most character- 
istic that greets the ear in spring in these northern wilds.” 
No. 364. 
LUPTED PUREUN: 
A. O. U. No. 12. Lunda cirrhata Pall. 
Synonym.—SeEa Parror. 
Description.—4 dult in breeding plumage: Sides of head, narrowly, extreme 
forehead, and chin, white; the area continued backward over and behind eye i% 
lengthened, undulating plume-tuft of close-set, silken feathers, changing pos- 
teriorly to deep straw-yellow; general color of remaining plumage black, bluish 
above, sooty-brownish below, changing to sooty-gray on belly; wings and tai! 
black, browning on inner webs; lining of wings smoky gray. Bill highly com- 
pressed, outline of culmen doubly convex, the distal portion of upper mandible 
marked by two or three curved grooves convex backward; distal portion of bill 
vermilion, basal plates yellowish horn-color; iris last-named shade to white; eye- 
ring vermilion; feet vermilion with black nails. Adult after the breeding season: 
Without crests; white of face replaced by dusky; bill smaller and dark-colored 
basally, seven deciduous plates having been shed; iris “pale blue’; feet “pale 
salmon flesh-color.” Young: Like adults in winter, but bill smaller and weaker, 
without grooves and saddled at base with soft dark skin. Downy young: Nearly 
uniform slaty black; bill black with outcropping of dull red near the middle; 
first feathers on belly pure white. Length of adult: 15.00-16.00 (381.00-406.4) ; 
