12 WATER BIRDS 
29. PIGEON GUILLEMOT.— Cepphus columba. 
Famity : The Auks, Murres, and Puffins. 
Length : 13.50. 
Adults in Summer: Uniform blackish except wings, where black basal 
half runs to point, making a black wedge between two white patches ; 
feet red; bill black and slender. 
Adults in Winter: White, varied on upper parts with black ; wings and 
tail as in summer. 
Young: Similar to winter plumage of adult. 
Downy Young: Uniform black above, under parts gray. 
Geographical Distribution : Coasts and islands of the North Pacific from 
3ehring Strait to Southern California. 
Breeding Range: From San Nicholas Island northward. 
Breeding Season: Approximately, May 1 to August 1. 
Nest: Behind or under boulders or in dark places, as near the water as 
possible. 
Eggs: 2; light green-blue, thickly marked with lilac, mostly at larger 
end. Size 2.43 X 1.62. 
Tue Pigeon Guillemot, “so like a guillemot and so like 
a pigeon,” is very abundant on the Farallones. It is a 
pretty, graceful bird, first cousin to the murre, 
which it somewhat resembles, being of a soft, 
dark brown color. Two points im- 
xu 
=> 
press you at first, —its conspicuous 74448 
scarlet feet, and the broad white z 
band on the wing. Like many 
sea birds, it stands with the body in . Sw ots 
a vertical position, supported by the 
long foot, after the manner of a penguin. 
Its curious nest is made of pebbles, carried 29. “/ TH" Bany 
Moe : . : GUILLEMOT” 
one by one in its bill and deposited in a 
circle in dark crannies of the rocks or hidden under boul- 
ders. They seem to serve chiefly as a rim to keep the eggs 
