806 



SYSTEM A TIC SYN OP SIS. — PYGOP ODES. 



340. 



858. 



gray; under parts from the breast pure M'hite, sliading insensibly into the color of the sides and 

 flanks. Inner webs of wing- and tail-feathers grayisli-bruwn, paler toward base, the shafts of 

 the primaries dull whitish at base. Length 15.50; extent 26.00; wing 7.25; tail 2.50; tarsus 

 1.20 ; middle too and claw 1.85 ; outer do. 1.70 ; inner do. 1.10 ; chord of culmen without horn 

 1.00, with horn 1.10; gape 2.00 ; nostril to tip of horn 0.75 ; total depth of bill, including horn, 

 1.25. In winter ; Plumage the same ; iris white; no horn nor accessory piece under the bill, 

 these being shed ; place of horn occupied by a soft dark-colored basement membrane or cere 

 (" Sagmatorhina suckleyi," Fig. 537). Young : Bill like that of adults iu winter, lacking 

 horn, but every way weaker, hardly more than half as large. Mostly dark-colored. No wliite 

 feathers on side of head. White of under parts overlaid and marbled with dark-gray ends of 

 the feathers ; black of upper parts brownish. The first spring the horn grows, the accessory 

 piece develops, and the plumage clears up. Nestlings are covered with smoky-brown down. 

 Both coasts and islands of N. Pacific, to Lower California and Japan; not sj^ecially arctic; 

 e. g., breeds on the Farallone Islands. 



SIMOBHYN'CHUS. (Gr. crtfios, simos, snub-nosed; pvyxos, hrugchos, beak.) SstJB-NOSED 

 Auks. Of moderate and very small size, and stocky shape. Head usually crested or with 

 peculiar feathers. Bill of indeterminate shape, differing with each species, furnished with a 

 varying number of deciduous Ijorny elements. Nostrils entirely unfcathered. Wings and tail 

 ordinary. Feet small; tarsi shorter than middle toe, entirely reticulate; toes long, middle and 

 outer of about equal lengths, claw of the former longest ; inner claw reaching base of middle ; 

 all curved and compressed. Four species, very distinct ; the queerest little auks in the world. 

 Each has been made type of a genus ; S. psittacuhis differs more from the rest than these do 

 from one another, and might stand apart as a genus {Phaleris), the others being rated as sub- 

 genera (Simoyhi/nchus proper, Tylorhamphus, and Ciceronia). 



Analysis of Specirs. 



psiiiaculus 858 



Upper mandible oval, lower mamlible falcate, rictus curved iipw.ard. No crest (Phaleris) 

 Upper mandible triangular, lower straight, rictus horizontal, sinuate. 

 A long frontal crest, curling over forward. 



One series of white feathers on each side of head (.5imor7i?/?ic/;w.9 proper) .... 

 More than one series of wliite feathers on each side of liead {Tijtorhampluis} . . 

 Shortwliite hair-like feathers over the forehead; no crest (C'icero/iia) _;j;tsi//ws 861 



cri^tatellus 859 

 ■ pugmo^us 860 



S. psitta'culus. (Lat. psittaculus, a little parrot. Fig. 439.) Paeroquet Auk. Pug- 

 NOSED Auk. BiU moderately large, much compressed, densely feathered for some distance at 



base, but not to the nostrils, which are naiTowly 

 oval, overhung by a projecting scale or shield, 

 which is deciduous. Profile of bill oval ; of 

 upper mandible narrowly oval ; culmen gently 

 convex, declinate, touiial edge more convex, ao- 

 clinate, meeting at an obtuse tip; lower mandi- 

 ble extremely slender, falcate, curved upward, 

 with concave tomia, very convex gonys, and 

 acute point. Frontal feathers embracing cul- 

 men with a reentrance, thence dropping per- 

 pendicularly to commissure ; those on lower 

 mandible not reaching quite so far; interramal 

 space fully feathered. Adult : In summer with 

 the nasal saddle, moulted in one piece in winter ; shape of bill not materially altered, however, 

 the piece being small and flatfish. Bill vermilion or coral-red, usually enamel-yellow at tip 

 and along edges. No curly crest on forehead, but a series of long white filamentous feathers 

 from the eye downward and backward. Entire upper parts, with chin, throat, breast, and 



Fig. 539. - Parroquet Auk, nat. size. 

 H. W. Elliott,) 



(Ad nat. del. 



