ALASKA. 203 



" The eye never fails to be arrested bj' this odd-lookiug bird, 

 with its great shovel-like, lemon-yellow and red bill, as it sits 

 squatted in glum silence on the rocky cliff-perches, regarding 

 approach with an air of stolid wonder. It seems to have been 

 fashioned with especial regard to the fantastic and comical. 



" This mormon. ,in common with one other species, M. cirrJiaia, 

 comes np from the sea, from the south, to the cliffs of the 

 islands about the 10th of Maj^, always in pairs, never coming 

 or going in flocks. It makes a nest of dried sea-ferns, grass, 

 moss, &c., far back or down in some deep, rocky crevice, where 

 the egg when laid is generally inaccessible — nothing but blast- 

 ing-powder would reach it. 



" It lays but a single egg, large, oblong-oval, pure white,, 

 and, contrary to the custom of the gulls, arries, choochkies, &c., 

 when the egg is removed the sea-parrot does not renew it, but 

 deserts the nest, perhaps locating elsewhere. The young chick I 

 have not been able to get — not until, it comes out fledged and 

 ready for flight in August, when it does not differ materially 

 from its parent. The species leaves the islands about the lOtb 

 September. 



"This bird is very quiet and unobtrusive; it does not come 

 in large numbers to the islands, for it breeds everywhere else 

 in Bering Sea.. Its flight is performed with quick and rapid 

 wing-beats, in a straight and steady course. There is no differ- 

 ence between the sexes as to size, shape, or plumage." 



619. Fratercula ciri-liata, (Paix.) Steph.— Th/^cZ Puffin. " Tawpaw- 



kie." 

 Alca clrrMta, Palt>. Spio. ZooL, 7, pi. 1, ii, fig. 1, 2, 3, (1769.) 

 Luiida cJcrZiafa, Pall. Zoog. R. A., ii. 363, p. 82, (1811.)— 



SciiLEG. Mus. Pays-Bas, Urin. 27, (1867.)— CouKS. Pr. Phila. 



Acad., (1868.) 

 Lunda {Gymnollejjharum) cirrMta, Brasdt. Bull. Sc. St. Petersb., 



vii., 244,(1867.) 

 Frata-cula cin-liata, Stepii. Shaw's Gen. Zool., xiii, 40, (1825.) 

 Fratcrcula (GymnoWepharuvi) drrhata, Bkandt. Bull. So. St. 



Peteisb., ii, 349, (1837.) 

 Mormon cirrhata, Naum. Isis, 781, pi. 7, f. 1, (1821.)— Cass. B. 



N. A., 903, (1858.) — Dall & Ba>-x. Trans. Chicago Acad., i, 



308, (1869.) 

 Fratercula carinata, Vigors. Zool. Journ., iv, 358. 

 Sarjmaiorhma latliami, Bp. P. Z. S., 202, pi. 44, (1851.)— Coues. 



Pr. Phila. Acad., (1868.) 

 Sagmatnrhina lairadoria, Cass. B. N. A., 904, (1658.)— Dall & 



Banx. Trans. Chic. Acad., i, 309, (1869.) 



