234 EXPEDITION TO JAPAN. 



The female is very nearly the same in all respects as the figure of the young hird given in 

 Fauna Japonica, as above cited, and is without the crest and white space on the head, which 

 characterize the male hird. 



Though the name applied by Temminck to this bird has priority, it is so singularly barbarous 

 and difficult to pronounce, that we have adopted that of Prof. Brandt. It is very correctly and 

 handsomely represented in both the plates referred to above. 



Relating to this interesting species we find the following in Mr. Heine's notes, now before us : 

 ' ' The officers engaged in the survey of the harbor of Simoda had frequently observed numbers 

 of small birds swimming at some distance from the shore, but at the approach of the boats the 

 birds invariably dived and disappeared. On one occasion, when returning from Rock island, 

 the boat in which I was came suddenly upon a number of those little fellows, swimming and 

 braving a rough sea in fine style, calling all the time with a chirruping voice. Two specimens 

 were secured, when all the others quickly disappeared. This bird is common in the harbor 

 of Simoda. ' ' 



PHALER1S MYSTACEA, (Pallas.) 



Uria mystacea, Pallas Zoog. Rosso Asiatica II, p. 372, (1811.) 



" Alca camtschatica, Nov. Act. Petrop. XII, tab. 8." Pallas as above. 



Mormon superciliosum, Licht. Verz. p. 89 ? 



Phaleris cristatella," Temm. pi. col. V ; Audubon Orn. Biog. V, p. 102. 



Temm. pi. col. 200 ; Aud. B. of Am. pi. 402. Oct. Ed. VII, pi. 467. 



Specimens of this curious little hird are in the collection of the expedition, from the bay of 

 Tedo and from Simoda. They present, however, no characters other than as represented in the 

 plates of Temminck and Audubon above cited. 



The bird appears to inhabit the northern coasts of both continents and their islands ; the 

 specimens figured by Mr. Audubon were, however, of uncertain origin. It has not previously 

 been known as a bird of Japan, and perhaps only inhabits the northern islands of that empire. 



The name cristatella, though occasionally applied to this species, is properly the designation 

 of a larger bird, not yet ascertained to be entitled to a place in the Fauna of the United States. 

 It is probable that the name for the present bird, having priority of all others, is camtschatica, 

 as above cited, a point which at present we are unable to determine, not having access to the 

 early volumes of the Transactions of the Academy of St. Petersburg. 



"Bay of Yedo, April, 1854," and "Simoda, April, 1854 ; eye grey." 



GRACULUS CARBO, (Linnieus.) 



Pelecanus carbo, Linn. Syst. Nat. I, p. 216, (1766.) 



Carbo cormoranus, Meyer. 



The cormorant. 



Gould B. of Eur. V, pi. 407. Aud. B. of Am., pi. 266 ; Oct. ed. VI, pi. 415. 



The common cormorant of Europe appears to be another of the birds of the old world which 

 are disseminated throughout that division of the globe. Specimens in the present collection 

 appear to be precisely identical with others now before us from central and western Europe. 



Obtained at the Bay of Yedo, April, 1854. " Eye bright green." 



Mr. Heine mentions this bird as follows : 



"Very large numbers of these birds were observed in the Bay of Yedo and its vicinity, either 



