sistent within the family, although the tgg of Phaleris psittacula is more granular in 

 texture than those of its consociates. While the color in this group is primitive, shape 

 and texture are considerably evolved (or depart widely from the reptilian type). 



Subfamily Allinae: Egg: Shape: ovate or mildly elongate ovate. Color; pale 

 blue or greenish blue, unmarked. Texture: close, matted, without luster. Number: 

 singular. 



Alle alle (Linn.), Dovekie. 



Comment: In this single instance I have allowed well-recognized structural dis- 

 tinctions (as, for example, the presence of one carotid artery instead of two) to weigh 

 in appointing the Dovekie a separate place. On the evidence of the_ egg alone one 

 would not think of trying to distinguish two subfamilies of the iEthiidae. 



Family Cepphidae, Guillemots. 



Egg: Shape: ovate, little end variable,- but only rarely sharply pointed. Color: 

 grayish white, pale greenish, or bluish white ; boldly but moderately or sparingly 

 spotted and blotched with brownish black, and with "shell markings," underlaid pig- 

 ments, of purplish gray. There is a tendency toward convergence of spots in a loose 

 ring about the larger end, or the formation of a cap of color; but quite as often the 

 spots are almost uniformly distributed. Texture: mildly granular or matted; luster 

 slight. Number: plural, two or very rarely three. 

 Cepphus grylle (Linn.), Black Guillemot. 

 " mandti (Mandt), Mandt's Guillemot. 

 " columba Pallas, Pigeon Guillemot. 

 " snowi Stejneger, Snow's Guillemot. 

 " carbo Pallas, Sooty Guillemot. 

 Comment: The eggs of this group are of a distinctive and singularly uniform 

 type. There is no oological evidence of generic distinctions within the group. If 1 

 am correct in a surmise that shell markings, i. e., more or less deeply imbedded pig- 

 ments, are indicative of great age in pigmentation, then the eggs of the Cepphidae form 

 a narrow, well-established type without close or even predicable affinities with other 

 Alciformes. 



Family Alcidae, Auks and Murres. 



Egg: Shape: ovate, elongate ovate, or ovate pyriform, more or less sharply 

 pointed — the extreme examples of straight-sided tapering eggs are furnished by this 

 group. Color: Highly diversified and individually variable. Within this group the 

 very tendency to vary has been exploited to the utmost, to the manifest advantage of 

 highly gregarious, monotokous species. In general, the ground color is grayish white, 

 but in the genus Uria the ground color runs a gamut of pale grays, gray-toned blues, 

 and greens. The markings are chiefly and typically rich browns and brownish, or, 

 rarely, bluish blacks; but in Uria, again, there is great diversity, and oil greens, 

 sepias, dull purples, or even hematite reds come into play. The markings are pri- 

 marily spots and blotches with tendency toward formation of an annulus, or cloud-cap, 

 but in Uria the entire gamut is run between immaculate specimens and those buried in 

 color. Texture: coarsely or finely granular, or matted; luster dull. Number: 

 singular. 



Uria troille troille (Linn.), Murre. 

 " " californica (H. Bryant), California Murre. 



" lomvia lomvia (Linn.), Brunnich's Murre. 

 " " arra (Pallas), Pallas's Murre. 



Alca torda Linnaeus, Razor-billed Auk. 



Plautus impennis (Linn.), Great Auk. 



Comment: In spite of the bizarre departures in color which the Murre's eggs 

 exhibit, it is always possible to duplicate Alcine types from Murre's eggs. A norm is 

 thus easily established, and the relationship between Uria and Alca is very close. 



Family Fraterculidae, Puffins. 



Egg: Shape: ovate to elongate ovate, often more or less sharply pointed. Color: 

 dull white, usually with more or less deeply imbedded shell-marking of pale lavender 

 or purplish gray, the color in fine pattern oftenest appearing as an indistinct ring about 

 the larger end. Texture: finely granular, or slightly fused; luster dull. Number: 

 singular. 



Cerorhinca monocerata (Pallas), Horn-billed Puffin. 



Lunda cirrhata (Pallas), Tufted Puffin. 



Fratercula arctica arctica (Linn.), Puffin. 



" naumanni Norton, Large-billed Puffin, 

 corniculata (Naumann), Horned Puffin. 



Comment: The outstanding offense of the older classification is the oversight, or 

 the wilful disregard of the evidential value of the egg in the case of the Rhinoceros 

 "Auklet"; yet the evidence is absolute. Cerorhinca monocerata is a Puffin. Its 

 eggs are indistinguishable from those of Lunda cirrhata. And there is not in the 



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