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HORNED-BILLED GUILLEMOT. 



/ Ceratorhyncha occidentalis, Bonap. 



PLATE CCCCII. Adult. 



Of this species, which, like all the others in the plate, is from the 

 north-west coast of America, the figure was taken from a specimen lent 

 to me for that purpose by the Prince of Musignano. 



Cerorhinca occidentalis, Ch. Bonap. Synopsis of Birds of United States, p. 428. 

 Westekn Cerorhikca, Nuttcdl, Manual, vol. ii. p. 538. 



Bill shorter than the head, stout, straightish, broad at the base, 

 the mouth measuring seven-eighths of an inch across, compressed to- 

 ward the end ; upper mandible with an oblong compressed knob on 

 the ridge between the nostrils, beyond which the dorsal line is decl^- 

 nate and decurved toward the end, the sides sloping, the edges sharp, 

 the tip narrow, obtuse, with a distinct notch immediately behind it ; 

 the gape-line slightly arched ; lower mandible with the angle long and 

 rather wide, the dorsal outline ascending and straight, the sides sloping 

 outwards and flattened, the edges thin and du-ect, the tip acute. Nos- 

 trils linear, near the margin, pervious. 



Body full and compact; neck short and thick; head large, ovato- 

 oblong. Feet short, stout, placed far behind ; tibia bare for a short 

 space ; tarsus very short, anteriorly scutellate, laterally reticulate ; hind 

 toe wanting; anterior toes scutellate, of moderate length, connected by 

 emarffinate webs, the inner toe much shorter than the outer, which is 

 nearly as long as the middle. Claws rather small, slightly arched, 

 compressed, rather acute. 



Plumage dense, blended, rather glossy on the upper parts. Wings 

 of moderate length, narrow, pointed ; primaries tapering, the first 

 longest, the rest rapidly graduated, secondaries rounded. Tail very 

 short, even, of sixteen elastic feathers. 



Bill orange-yellow ; feet greyish-yellow. The general colour of the 

 upper parts is black, as are the cheeks, the upper part of the fore neck 

 and its sides ; the lower parts white. Two decm'ved white bands on 

 the sides of the head, one commencing over the eye, the other at the 



