NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS EGGS. 



15 



19. Whiskered Aukiet. Simorhynchus pygmaeus. 



Range. The Alaskan Coast. 



Much smaller than the preceding; but 7.5 in. in length. Breast gray, belly 

 white; a small tuft of recurved feathers on the forehead and slender white plumes 

 from base of bill over the eye and from under the eye, backwards. The bill in 

 summer is a bright vermilion color. On some of the islands of the Aleutian 

 chain they breed quite abundantly. The nests are placed back in the crevices 

 of the rocks, where the single white eggs are laid. Size 2.00x1.25. 



20. Least Auklet. Simorhynchus pusillus. 



Range. North Pacific on the islands and coast 

 of Alaska. This is the smallest of the Auklets; 

 length 6.5 in. This species has no crest, but has 

 the slender white plumes extending back from the 

 eye. The entire under parts are white sparsely 

 spotted with dusky. This species is by far the 

 most abundant of the water birds of the extreme 

 Northwest, and thousands of them, accompanied 

 by the two preceding species, nest on the rocky 

 cliffs of the islands of Bering Sea. Their 

 nesting habits are. the same as those of the [White.] 



other Auklets, they placing their single white egg on the bare rocks, in crevices 

 on the cliffs. Size 1.55 x 1.10. Data. Pribilof Is., Alaska, June 8, 1897. Single 

 egg laid in crevice. Thousands breeding on the island. Collector, W. Macoun. 



21. Ancient Murrelet. Synthliboramphus antiquus. 



Range. Pacific Coast, breeding from the border of the United States, north- 

 ^^^^^^^^^ ward, and wintering south to south- 



ern California. 



The Murrelets have no crests or 

 plumes and the bills are more slender 

 than the Auklets and are not highly 

 colored. The ancient Murrelet or 

 Black-throated Murrelet, as it is also 

 called, has a gray back, white under 

 parts and a black head and throat, 

 with a broad white stripe back of 

 the eye and another formed by the 

 white on the breast extending up on 

 the side of the neck. They breed 

 abundantly on the islands in Bering 

 Sea, laying one or two eggs at the 



end of burrows in the banks or on the ground, and in some localities in crevices 

 on the cliffs. The eggs are a buffy white color and are faintly marked with 

 light brown, some of these being in the shape of spots and others lengthened. 

 Si/e 2.40x1.40. Data. Sanak Islands, July 1, 1894. Two eggs on the ground 

 under a tuft of grass and in a slight excavation lined with fine grass. Collector, 

 C. L. Littlejohn. 



) 



[Buff.] 



