CALIFORNIA WATER BIRDS. 19 



Several specimens of the collection have but one foot, 

 the other having been severed some time before their 

 capture, the stump being entirely healed. A like cir- 

 cumstance is mentioned in the ' Water Birds of North 

 America,' vol. ii, p. 505. 



Brachyramphus marmoratus. Marbled Murrelet. — 

 Although common, they were not as plentiful the middle 

 fortnight of my stay as at the beginning and during the 

 closing week, when an extensive flight from the north- 

 ward, lasting several days, passed Point Pinos. The birds 

 flew in twos and threes, appearing at short intervals dur- 

 ing the hours the movement was at its height. 



The greater part of the specimens obtained have the 

 interramal space to a varying extent mouse gray. In sev- 

 eral the feathers of the dorsal region are narrowly tipped 

 with white, presenting a somewhat squamous appearance. 



Cepphus columba. Pigeon Guillemot. — A single 

 male, taken Dec. 12th, was the only ' Sea Pigeon' met 

 with during my visit. 



The lower parts of this specimen are immaculate 

 white with the exception of a few drab feathers on the 

 breast and abdomen and a collar, about an inch in width, 

 of blended drab and white. This collar, with a deeper 

 shade of drab, extends around the back of the neck and 

 encroaches upon the occiput where it branches off into 

 imperfect superciliary stripes . There are only faint traces 

 of white on the crown. The wing-patch is as fully de- 

 veloped as in a bird of the breeding season. 



Of nineteen summer adults from Monterey, all except 

 two display more or less white on the under surface of 

 the wings. This is likewise true of the remaining three 

 adult summer birds in the Academy's collection, from 

 the Farallones, Alaska, and East Siberia. In several speci- 

 mens the white forms conspicuous patches. In the ex- 



