446 ALCU)^. 



Order ALCiE. 



This order includes the Auks, all of which inhabit the northern oceans, where they 

 are often to be seen in vast numbers during the nesting-season. They require but a 

 brief notice in the present work, as only a single species has been recorded from within 

 our limits, and even on this reported capture Mr. Grant expresses some doubt. The 

 characters for the definition of the Auks as a separate order are given at great length 

 in the twenty-sixth volume of the ' Catalogue of Birds/ 



Fam. ALGID.S:. 



The characters for the family are the same as those of the order. Mr. Grant 

 recognizes two subfamilies, the Auks (Alcinae) and the Puffins (Fraterculinae), the 

 last-named distinguished by the absence of the feathering on the lores, which never 

 extends so far as the posterior border of the nasal opening, the latter being overhung 

 by a homy scale. 



Subfam. ALCIN^. 

 In this subfamily, which contains the Great Auk {Plautus impennis), the Guillemots 

 (Uria), and the true Auks, the nostril is often all but concealed by the protrusion of 

 the feathering of the lores, which always extends to the posterior margin of the nasal 

 opening. 



BEACHYKHAMPHUS. 



Brachyrhamphus, Brandt, Bull. Acad. St. Petersb. ii. p. 346 (1837) ; Grant, Cat. Birds Brit. Mas. 

 xxvi. p. 590 (1898). 



1. Brachyrliainphns brevirostris. 



Uria brevirostris. Vigors, Zool. Journ. iv. p. 357 ' ; Zool. Voy. ' Blossom,' Birds, p. 32 -. 

 Brachyrhamphus brevirostris, Grant, Cat. Birds Brit. Mas. xxvi. p. 593 ' ; Nelson, North American 



Fauna, no. 14, p. 23 '. 

 Brachyrhamphus kittlitzi, Brandt, Bull. Acad. St. Petersb. ii. p. 346'; Baird, Brewer, & Ridgway, 



Water-Birds N. Amer. ii. p. 501 '. 

 ? Guillemot, Lawr. Mem. Bost. Soe. Nat. Hist. ii. p. 318 '. 



Sapra schistaceus ; scapnlaribus plerisque albis ; alis bnmneis, sectindariis albo terminatis ; rectricibns pure 

 albis, his medianis tantnm bmnneis ; pileo schistaceo ; loris, Buperciliis ad nacham fere conjnnctis, 

 facie laterall, et corpore subtns toto, cum lateribus dorsi imi et uropygii, pure albis ; colli lateribus 

 bmnneo fasciatim marmoratis, plumis singulis bruuneo late margiiiatis. Long, tota circa 11-0, alae 5*75, 

 candsB 1-8, culm, nudo 0*4, tarsi 0"6. (Descr. avis adulte ex Xamtchatka. Mus. Brit.) 



Jifv. Supra schistaceus, plumis ochraceo vel sordide albo maculatim terminatis ; facie laterali bmnneo striata ; 



