g16 THE PAROQUET AUKLET. 
adult birds are never seen in the immediate neighborhood in nesting time, and 
one may traverse the entire coast without suspecting their presence. In winter 
they mingle occasionally with like-minded divers on Puget Sound, but they are 
seldom distinguished and were unknown to Suckley at Steilacoom. 
No. 367. 
PAROQUET AUKLE1. 
A. O. U. No. 17. Phaleris psittacula (Pall.). 
Synonyms.—PvucG-NoseD AUKLET. Parrot AUK. 
Description.—Adult in breeding plumage: Upperparts uniform slaty black: 
chin, throat, fore-neck and sides dusky, changing to white on remaining under- 
parts; lining of wings fuscous; a line of narrow pointed white feathers starting 
from eye and continued obliquely backward and downward; bill with strongly 
convex culmen and more strongly recurved gonys (tomia correspondingly up- 
curved), vermilion-red, changing to horn-yellow at tip and along tomia. Size of 
bill slightly increased by a series of flattened pieces which are deciduous in 
winter. [Winter adults are w hite on chin and throat as well, with the sides of the 
latter dusky-spotted. “Young: No white filaments on head; a white spot on 
lower eyelid; upper parts as before [in adult]; under parts white, marbled and 
mottled with dusky ends of the feathers” (Coues). Length of adult 9.00 (228.6) 
or more; wing §.40-5.75 (137.2-146.1); tail 1.55 (39.4); bill (chord of culmen) 
.60 (15.2); depth of bill at base .45 (11.4); tarsus 1.00 (25.4). 
Recognition Marks.—Robin size; “pug-nosed”” bill; white line of plumes 
from behind eye in adult. 
Nesting.—Does not breed in Washington. Single white egg, roughened and 
soiled, placed deep in fissure or cranny of voleanic rock. Av. size, 2.30% 1.47 
(58.4 x 37.3). Season: June. 
General Range.—North Pacific Ocean, breeding on the Aleutians and other 
rocky islets, south to Sitka and the Kuriles; south in winter to San Francisco Bay. 
Range in Washington.—Probably common during migrations along the 
West Coast. Casual on the Straits of Juan de Fuca. 
Authorities—Dawson, Auk, Vol. XXV. Oct. 1908, p. 485. (A. W. Anthony 
in epist.). 
MR. A. W. ANTHONY, who is familiar with this species in the North, 
recognized it in the Straits o¥ Juan de Fuca on his winter cruise of ‘98-9. It 
is well distributed in summer thruout the Aleutian chain, but retires in winter 
to the open sea. 
As nearly as can be determined, the peculiar retroussé effect of this bird's 
bill is merely ornamental, since its food comprises chiefly the tiny crustaceans 
taken in open water. Moreover, certain parts about the base of the bill are 
