206 ALASKA. 



feeds at sea, flying* out every morning, returning in the after- 

 noon to its nest and mate." 



The egg of Phalcris psittacida is about as large as a small 

 hen's egg, which it resembles, although averaging more elon- 

 gate. The shape, however, is extremely variable; thus, one 

 measures 2.25 by 1.50, and another 2.35 by only 1.45, the latter 

 being remarkably narrow, elongate, and pointed. The shell is 

 minutely granular, and rough to the touch. It is white, un- 

 marked, but often found variously soiled and discolored, some- 

 times by mechanical effect, and sometimes by fluids of the 

 oviduct or cloaca. ]Mr. Elliott says, " So efiectually do these 

 birds secrete their eggs in the deep recesses of cliff crevices and 

 chinks that I was unable to obtain more than four perfect speci- 

 mens, although several hundred ' baillie brushkies ' were breed- 

 ing on the cliffs, each pair marked by myself, (in daily observa- 

 tion,) close by the village, at Saint George's Island, during the 

 summer of 1873. Xothing, save blasting-powder, or similar 

 agency, can open the basaltic crevices in which the bird hides, 

 and, of course, resort to this action would also destroy the egg.^^ 



622. SaznorSiyBicSaias ci-istatelliis, (Pall.) Meur.— CrestoZ Auk. 



" Cauooskie." 

 AJca cristatcUa, Pall. Spic. Zool. fasc, v, 20, pi. 3, pi. 5, figs. 7, 



8,9, (1769.) 

 Uria crisfatdia, Pall. Zoog. Eosso.-As., ii, 370, (1811.) (Escl. 



syn. Alca camtschatica, Lepech.) 

 Simorhi/nchiist cr'isaMhis, Merrem. — Schl. M. P. B., ix, 25, 



(1867.)— CouES. Proc. Pbila. Acad., (1863.)— COUES. Key N. 



A. Birds, 342, figs. 223, 224, (1872.) 

 Simorhi/vchus {Tylorltamplius) crisiatellus, Braxdt. Bull. Sc. 



Acad. St. Petersb., vii, 223, (1869.) 

 TijJorhamplms cristateUits, Braxdt. Oj;. c'lt., ii, 348, (1337.) 

 Phaleris cristatellus, Steph. Shaw's Gen. Zool., xiii, 47, pi. 5, 



(1825.) (Nee Temm.) — Schrexck. Eeise Ainur-Laud, i, yt. 



ii, 500, pi. 16, figs. 4, 5. 

 riialeris (SimorJujnchns) cristateUus, Cass. B.N. A., 906, (1858.) 

 Uria duhia, Pall. Zoog. E. A., ii, 371, (1811.) — {Avis ptil. hyem. 



vestifa, sec. Braxdt.) 

 Phaleris diihia, Brandt. Bull. Sc. Acad. St. Petersb., ii, 347, 



(1837.) 

 Tylorliamplius clnhius, BoNAP. Comptes Eendus, xlii,774, (1856.) 

 Simorhynchtis duhitis, CouES. Proc. Pliila. Acad., (1868.) 

 Alca tetracHla,FA-LL. Spic. Zool. fasc, v, 23, jil. 4,(1769,) (Junior.) 

 Uria tetracula, Pall. Zoog. E. A.,ii, 371, (1811.) 

 Phaleris tetracula, Step. GeuH. Zool., xiii, 46, (1825.)— Brandt. 



Bull. Sc. Acad. St. Petersb., ii, 347, (1837.) 



