ALASKA. 207 



Ti/lorhamplms tetraculus, Boxap. Qpmptes Eeuclus, xlii, 774, 



(1856.) 

 Fhaleris (Ti/lorliamiihus) tetracula, Cass. B. N. A., 907, (13.i8.) 

 Simorhiincus tetraculus, Coues. Proc. Pliila. Acad,, (1868.) — 



COUES. Key N. A. B., 342, (1872.) 

 Plmleris psitlacula, Tem.m. Man. d'Ornitli., i, p. cxii, (18.;0.) 

 Plialms superdliata, AvD. Orn. Biog., iv, pi. 402, (1839.) (\cc 



Light. ; uec Bp.) 



" This fantastic-looking bird, conspicuous by reason of its curl- 

 ing crest and bright crimson bill, breeds in company with the 

 8. microceros, but in no number whatever compared with the 

 'choochkie' — a few thousand pairs only at Saint Paul's, and 

 relatively more on Saint George's, of course. 



" It makes its appearance in early May, and repairs to chinks 

 and holes in the rocky cliffs, or deep down under large bowlders 

 and rough basaltic shingle, to lay, making no nest whatever, 

 depositing the egg upon the bare earth or rock. But so well 

 do these birds succeed in secreting it that, although I was con- 

 stantly upon the ground where several thousand pairs were 

 laying, I was unable to successfully overturn the rocks (under 

 which they hide) and get more than four eggs, the result of 

 over a hundred attempts. 



" The note of the 'canooskie' w^hile mating is a loud, clanging, 

 hmiTc-hke sound ; at all other seasons they are silent. 



"The Simorhynchus cristatellus lays but one egg, and the 

 parents take turns, I am inclined to believe, in the labor of 

 incubation and in feeding their young. The egg is rough, pure 

 white, but with frequent discoloration s, and, compared with 

 size and weight of the parent, very large. It is an elongated 

 oblong-oval, the smaller end being quite pointed. Length, 

 2.10; width, 1.40. 



" I have not seen a chick, nor could I get any notes upon its 

 appearance from the natives, but T have shot the young as 

 they came out for the first time from their dai'k, secure hiding- 

 places, fully fledged, with exception of crest, being by this 

 time, the 10th to 15th August, as large as the old birds, and of 

 the same color and feathering. 



" The 'canooskie,' like its cousin, the ' choochkie,' has no sex- 

 ual variation in size or plumage. Males and females are, to all 

 external view, precisely alike. 



"The bright crimson bill, however, varies considerably, not 

 in color, but in its relative strength and curve, the slenderer 

 bill not being confined, as far as I could see, to the yoniig 



