510 



THE DIVING- BIRDS — PYOOPODES. 



Phaleris pygmeeus. 



THE WHISKERED AUK. 



Alca inigmxrn, Gmel. S. N. I. ii. 1788, 55') (^ young; based on Pyfifw??/ Aul; Penn. Arct. Zool. 



no. 431). 

 Simorhynchus pygmwits, Brandt, Mel. Zool. vii. 1869, 228. — Ridgw. Pr. U. S. Nat. Mus. 1880, 



211 ; Noni. N. Am. B. 1881, no. 749. — Couics, 2d Check List, 1882, no. 860. 

 Alca Kamtschaticn., Lei'eciiin, Mova Acta Petrop. XII. 1801, 369, pi. 8 (^ adult). 

 Phaleris camtscliatica, BiiANDT, Bull. Ac. St. Petersb. II. 1837, 347. — Cassin, in Baird's B. N. Am. 



1858, 908. — Baiud, Cat. N. Am. B. 1859, no. 721. 

 Simorhynchus camlscJiaticns, Sciileg. Mus. P.-B. Urin. 1867, livr. ix. p. 25. — CouEs, Pr. Ac. Nat. 



Sci. Philad. 1868, 41 ; Key, 1872, 342 ; Check List, 1873, no. 623. 

 Uria mystacca, Pall. Zoog. Rosso-As. II. 1826, 372, pi. 89. 

 Phaleris cristatclla, Temm. PI. Col. 200 (not of authors). 

 Mormon sicpcrciliosum, Light. Verz. Donbl. 1823, 89. 

 Simorhynchus Cassini, CoUES, Pr. Philad. Acad. 1868, 44 (Ounimak Pass, Aleutian Islands ; = 



young). 



Hab. Coasts and islands of the North Pacific, from Unalashka through the Aleutian chain to 

 Kamtschatka. 



Adult $ , nuptial iilwmage (85617, Atkha Island, Aleutian chain, June, 1879 ; L. M. Turner): 

 Above, glossy blackish slate, appearing more plumbeous in certain lights, especially on the rump ; 

 wings and tail dull brownish black. Lower parts sooty plumbeous, darker anteriorly, and nearly 

 white posteriorly, the crissum being quite white ; entire sides and flanks uniform deep, slightly 

 smoky, plumbeous, like the breast. Head ornamented by an erect, gracefully recurved crest of 

 narrow plumes of dull black, about 1.50 inches long (when straightened out); anterior half of the 

 lores covered with a triangular patch of pure white pointed feather-tips, this patch bifurcating 

 posteriorly, and continued in one branch downward and backward across the cheeks, the white 



Summer adult. 



Young. 



filamentous ti])s becoming very long and lanceolate or acicular posteriorly ; the upper branch 

 extending to each side of the crown, where spring three very narrow dull white, slightly recurved 

 filaments, nearly as long as the crest, and originating on the same transverse line as the latter ; 

 another series of yellowish white filaments originates immediately beneath the eye, and extends 

 backward along the upper border of the auriculars, the posterior ones extending about an inch 

 beyond the terminal portion of the auricular region. Bill in dried skin dull, rather dark, coral- 

 red, the tip first dark grayish, then white ; in life, "deep vermilion, with bluish tip" (Tl'RNER); 

 " iris blackish blue '' (Turner) or white (Stejneger) ; feet " dusky " in life, dark brown in dried 

 skin. Wing, 4.20 inches ; culmen, .35 ; greatest depth of bill, .30, width at base, .28 ; tarsus, .80 ; 

 middle toe, .85. 



(Another adult male from the same locality, and collected about the same date, is similar, except 

 that the superciliary filaments are pure white, while the crest is light brownish gray. Wing, 4.10 

 inches ; culmen .30 ; greatest depth of bill, .30 ; tarsus, .85 ; middle toe, .90.) 



