ALGWJE, AUKS. GEN. 31G, 317. 339 



The family is confined to the Northern Hemisphere, where it represents the pen- 

 guins of the Southern ; several species occur in the North Atlantic, in almost 

 incredible numbers, or are of eircumpolar distribution ; but the majority, including 

 all the stranger kinds, inhabit the North Pacific ; some range as far south, in winter, 

 at least as the Middle States and Lower California. They are all marine ; feed on 

 flsh and other animal substances, exclusively ; lay 1-3 eggs on bare ledges, in rifts 

 of rocks, or in burrows ; and are altricial. The voice is hoarse ; the flight swift 

 and firm, performed with vigorous rapid wing-beats ; one species is deprived of 

 flight owing to the shortness of the wings, although these members are well formed 

 with perfect remiges ; all swim and dive with great facilitj'. They are eminently 

 gregarious, and mostly migrator3r. All the species are represented in this country. 

 The number of species given by Brandt in 1837 (Bull. Acad. Sci. St. Petersburg), by 

 Cassin in 1858 (Baird's B. N. A.) and by myself in ISCS (Proc. Phila. Acad.), must 

 be materially reduced, as Brandt himself has since shown (oj). cit. ISCD), and as 

 I now admit. Only twenty-one are unquestionably valid. 



316. Genus ALCA Linnaeus. 

 y / 1' Great Auh. Coloi-atioii as in the next species, but a large Avhite area 

 before the eye ; length about 30 ; wing 6 ; tail 3 ; bill 3, along gape 4, its 

 depth 1|. NuTT., ii, 553; Aud., vii, 245, pi. 465; Cass, in Bd., 900. 

 Special interest attaches to this bird, which is now on the point of extinction, 

 largely through human agency. It formerly inhabited this coast from Massa- 

 chusetts northward, as attested by earlier observers, and by the plentiful 

 occurrence of its bones in shell-heaps ; also, Greenland, Iceland, and the 

 N. W. shores of Europe, to the Arctic Circle. On our shores it was appar- 

 ently last alive at the Funks, a small island off the S. Coast of Newfound- 

 land ; while in Iceland, its living history has been brought downi to 1844. 

 Of late years, it has been currently, but, as it appears, prematurely, reiJorted 

 extinct. Mr. R. Deane has recently recorded (Am. Nat. vi, 368) that a 

 specimen was "found dead in the vicinity of St. Augustine, Labrador, in 

 November, 1870 ;" this one, though iu poor condition, sold for |200, and 

 was sent to Europe. I know of only four specimens iu this country — in 

 the Smithsonian Institution, in the Philadelphia Academy, the Cambridge 

 Museum, and in Vassar College, Poughkeepsie (the latter the original of 

 Audubon's figures). There is an egg in each of the first two mentioned 

 collections. About 60 skins appear to be preserved in various museums. 

 See Steenstrup, Viddensk. Meddel., Copenhagen, 1856-7, 33-116; 

 Newton, Ibis, 1862, p. — ; Coues, Proc. Phila. Acad. 1868, 15; Oeton, 

 Am. Nat., iii, 539 impennis. 



317. Genus UTAMANIA Leach. 

 Razor-hilled Auh. TinJxr. Brownish-black, browner on the head and 

 throat ; under parts from the throat (iu summer ; from the bill in winter, 

 and in young), tips of secondaries, and sharp line from bill to eye, white; 

 bill black with a white curved line; mouth yellow; 16-19; w^ing 7-8 ; tail 

 3-3 J, graduated 1 or more; tarsus l-lj ; bill IJ, along gape 2^, nearly 1 

 deep. N. Atlantic, extremely abundant on rocky shores and islands with 



