126 LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN DIVING BIRDS 



dence, Rhode Island. One of these appears to be authentic; it came 

 through Ward's Natural Science Establishment and was obtained by 

 Professor Ward on his visit to Japan. It was collected in the 

 Kurile Islands, where this species is known to breed, but no further 

 data came with it. The egg is "ovate" in shape, dull white in color, 

 smooth and lusterless. It measures 48 by 33.5 millimeters. 



Plumage Doctor Stejneger (1885) has made a careful study of 

 the development of the plumages and the molts of this species based 

 upon the 23 specimens he collected, "consisting of birds in all ages 

 and nearly at all seasons," and "made on the fresh birds before and 

 during skinning." I quote from his conclusions as follows: 



When the young leaves the egg, in the latter part of June, it is covered by a 

 dense down, dark fuliginous above, lighter and more grayish on the abdomen. 

 Another downy young was collected July 12; it is half fledged, the new plumage, 

 on the whole, like that of the adults, being only a little lighter underneath, 

 nearly pure white on the abdomen, but before long this light, or rather pure 

 color, darkens, as in the young Lunda cirrhata, and a young killed only six days 

 later, but fully fledged and without any trace of down left, is undistinguishable 

 from the old ones as far as the general coloration of the plumage is concerned; 

 the loral tuft, with its malar and superciliary branches, and the postocular 

 stripe are indicated by light grayish feathers. 



In this plumage the young remain until about the end of December, for 

 No. 92962, shot on the 3d of January, is nearly identical with the last-mentioned 

 young bird, with the exception of the bill, which is more vividly colored, and 

 the general aspect of the plumage, which seems fresher and of a more slate- 

 colored hue, owing to the fact that the feathers are new, many being still in 

 their sheaths. But on the same date I obtained five other specimens which 

 show all the intermediate grades between this and the fully developed plumage 

 with the long and rich crests, as exhibited by No. 92960, which was shot five 

 days previous, and No. 92961, collected on the 30th of December. The wing 

 feathers are yet in pretty good condition, and are not molted now. Alongside 

 with the development of the new contour feathers and the ornamental plumes 

 goes the increasing intensity and purity of the colors of the bill, the nasal 

 shield of which, however, is still dusky. During the following months the bill 

 assumes still more vivid colors, the tip becomes nearly pure white, the middle 

 scarlet, and the nasal shield finally, when the birds, just before the breeding 

 season, appear at the rookeries, turns into a fine carmine, as shown by No. 

 92972, a female shot May 6, 1883. But while in this specimen the bill shows 

 its highest perfection, the plumage already bears evidence to the commencing 

 decay caused by the wear of the feathers while inhabiting the deep nest holes 

 in the crevices of the rocks, and the abrasion is particularly visible on the 

 wing coverts, which were not shed when the other feathers of the body were 

 molted, viz, late in winter, the middle row being light brownish gray, as are 

 also the exposed parts of the inner primaries. Also the ornamental plumes 

 are on the decline, and the frontal crest is already thinned out considerably, 

 consisting in the specimen in question of only four plumes, while some birds 

 in "full dress" may be found having as many as a dozen. During the incu- 

 bation the plumage becomes gradually more dilapidated, and when the young 

 are out, the parents at other seasons so graceful and beautiful present a 

 rather miserable aspect, the white plumes on the head being soiled and glued 

 together, and all the wing feathers faded into a dirty gray, with the vanes 



