878 



U. S. p. R. K. EXP. AND SURVEYS — ZOOLOGY — GENERAL REPORT. 



Sp. Ch. — Greenish black; behind each eye a recurved crest of loose feathers; gular sac orange; second quill longest; tail of 

 twelve feathers. 



Adult. The plumage of the head, neck, lower part of the back and entire under surface is greenish black, the feathers of the 

 upper part of the back, the wing-coverts, the scapularies and tertiaries, greyish brown or dark ash, the margins of which are 

 greenish black ; primaries blackish-brown, lighter on the inner webs ; the secondaries dark greyish brown ; tail black, as are also 

 the shafts ; running from the bill over the eye is a line of white filamentous feathers, there are also a few of the same character 

 sparsely distributed over the neck ; behind each eye is a tuft of rather long slender feathers, erect and curving forwards ; bare 

 space in the region of the eye, and gular sac orange ; upper mandible blackish brown, with the edges yellowish ; lower yellow, 

 marked irregular with dusky ; iris bright green ; legs, feet, and claws black, claw of the middle toe pectinated. 



Length, 33 inches ; wing, 13 ; tail, 6.75 ; bill, 2.85 ; tarsus, 3.50 ; outer toe and claw, 4 ; inner, 2.50 j, hind, 1.75. 



Soft.— Atlantic coast from Labrador to Carolina ; fur countries ; Pacific coast from Washington Territory to California. 



Numerous specimens are in the collection, mostly from the Pacific coast, from which point 

 none are fully adult, most having the greyish under plumage of the young, the bills being 

 yellow. 



Ph. lenconotus and Ph. lencumus Aud. Orn, Biog. Ill, 1835, 334, are thought by both Gray 

 and Bonaparte to be the young of this species. 



The bill is strong, in the adult the culmen is smooth, the sides of both mandibles are crossed 

 with slight prominences of a curved or scale-like form, pretty regularly distributed about a 

 quarter of an inch apart from the base to the unguis. 



This species resorts in large numbers to the low islands off the coast of Labrador^ which are 

 their breeding stations ; they construct their nests on the surface of the rocks, not on the 

 shelves of precipices. 



I once witnessed a large migrating flight of these birds to the south, along our seacoast; they 

 passed in great flocks, which succeeded each other frequently during the entire day ; each flock 

 formed a widely extended front, the individuals being side by side ; their mode of flight was 

 by alternate flapping of the wings, and their sailing for a short distance, the- effect of which 

 Was peculiar and striking. 



List of specimens. 



