3 1 8 CHARADRIIFORMES CHAP. 



head. In winter the horny processes disappear, but not the 

 plumes. PtycliorhampJius aleuticus, Cassin's Auklet, of the 

 Pacific coast of North America, is black above and white below, 

 with a lead-coloured throat, a white iris, and a bill which is 

 mainly black, and becomes wrinkled in summer. Cyclorliynclms 

 psittacidus, the Parrot Auk of the North Pacific, has an extra- 

 ordinary compressed orange-red beak, to which the blunt decurved 

 maxilla and narrow up-curved mandible give a rounded appear- 

 ance ; the upper parts and the throat are dusky ; the lower 

 surface, the iris, and a row of filaments behind each eye are white, 

 as is the throat in winter. Three species of Simorhynchus, 

 from the North Pacific, have a stout orange-red or purplish 

 bill, a white iris, and black upper parts. S. cristatellus, the 

 Crested Auklet, has several deciduous plates at the base of 

 the beak, including a round piece at each side of the gape ; the 

 lower parts are grey ; a tuft of dusky plumes curls over the 

 forehead, and a line of narrow white feathers stretches across the 

 ear-coverts both being permanent : in winter the bill is horn- 

 coloured. S. pygmaeus, the Whiskered Auklet, is without 

 conspicuously deciduous plates, but has an additional patch of 

 white plumes, reaching from the beak above and below the eye 

 at all seasons. S. pusillus, the Least Auklet, has on the short 

 maxilla a small compressed basal tubercle, which is shed in 

 winter, but exhibits no crest. The scapular region shews a good 

 deal of white ; filamentous white feathers grace the forehead, lores, 

 and ear-coverts ; and dusky spots mark the lower parts, in summer 

 only. Syntlili~bor~hamplius antiquus, of the Pacific north of 

 Vancouver Island and Japan, but accidental elsewhere, has a 

 short, compressed, yellow and black beak, with plumbeous upper 

 and white lower parts ; the head and throat are black with a 

 white line on each side of the occiput, the upper back is streaked 

 with white. In winter all the stripes vanish, and the throat is 

 white. S. ivumizusume, of the Eastern Asiatic seas southward 

 to Japan, has a nuptial crest of long narrow plumes, but no 

 streaks on the back. In the cold season the whole malar region 

 and throat are white. BracJiyrhamphus marmoratus of the 

 North Pacific, reaching California in winter, has a small slender 

 black bill, dusky upper parts barred with rufous, and white under 

 parts varied with brown ; B. kittlitzi, of the Aleutian Islands 

 east to ITnalashka, Kamtschatka, and North Japan, is thickly 



