8o STELLER'S JOURNAL 



All sorts of water birds i^^ [^ abundance were seen, such as 

 swans,i69 two kinds of urili {Pelecani),^'^^ auks (Tarda), '^'^ ducks, 

 snipes, sandpipers, various kinds of gulls,i^2 divers, among them 

 a very remarkable and unknown species, ^^^ Greenland pigeons,i74 

 sea parrots (Alca arcticaY''''' and michagatkas (Alca cirrata).'^''^ 



168 In the following enumeration of birds and fishes the Latin names 

 are not in the MS; they have been added by Pallas. The following notes 

 give identifications on the basis of present knowledge and in terms of 

 current zoological nomenclature. 



169 The swans seen must have been Olor columhianus (Ord), which has 

 been recorded by Dall from Sannak Island, about loo statute miles 

 farther southwest, in September (Dall, Proc. California Acad, of Set., 

 Vol. 5. 1873-74. p. 275). (S) 



I'o The two species of urili are the violet-green cormorant (Phalacro- 

 corax pelagicus robustus Ridgway) and the white-crested cormorant {Ph. 

 dilophus cincinnatus (Brandt)), (S) 



1" Of course they were not Alca tor da Linnaeus, which does not occur 

 in the Pacific. The nearest approach in appearance in this region are 

 the murres (Uria), but Steller would probably have recorded these as 

 art, not as auks. Moreover, murres seem to be rare at the Shumagins. 

 Dall (Proc. California Acad, of Set., Vol. 5, 1873-74, p. 34) says expressly 

 that they were not noticed, and Bean (Proc. U. S. Natl. Museum, Vol. 

 5, 1882, pp. 174-175) does not mention them. It is most likely that Steller 

 in the term auk included the various auklets so characteristic of the 

 North Pacific. (S) 



"2 Ducks, snipes, sandpipers, various gulls: numerous species are 

 common in this region. (S) 



173 It is not likely that Steller by using the word "Taucher" meant to 

 indicate a species belonging to the genera Colymhus (Podiceps) or Gavia 

 (Urinaior) but rather in general a diving bird unknown to him (see also, 

 below, footnotes 239 and 285). In that case it is probably permissible to 

 guess at Cerorhinca monocerata (Pallas) or Ptychoramphus aleulicus 

 (Pallas), none of which he had seen in Kamchatka. (S) 



"< The "Greenland pigeons" are undoubtedly the pigeon guillemot 

 (Cepphus columba Pallas), which Dall records as breeding on the Shuma- 

 gins (Proc. California Acad, of Set., Vol. 5, 1873-74, p. 11). (S) 



17 6 "(Alca arctica)," added by Pallas, refers to the Atlantic species. 

 The one seen by Steller is Prater cula corniculata (Naumann), the horned 

 puffin. (S) 



17 6 Michagalka is the name used by the western Kamchadals for Lunda 

 cirrhata Pallas, the tufted puffin. (S) 



