eAVi^. 278 



Suborder XXVI. GAVIM. 



Palate schizognathous j dorsal vertebrae more or less opisthoccSloUs \ 

 no basipterygoid processes j spinal feather-tract well defined on the 

 neck by lateral bare tracts. 



The Gavise consist of four f amiKes — the Laridse (containing about 

 140 species), which are coBmopoHtan j the Alcidse (containing about 

 30 species), confined to the Nearctic and PalBearctic Eegions; the 

 Cursoriidae (containing about 30 species), found in the Neotropical, 

 Ethiopian, Oriental, Australian, and the southern portion of the 

 Palsearctic Eegions j and the ffidicnemidse (about 10 species), which 

 are found in the tropical and subtropical countries of the world. The 

 Laridae and Alcidae are the only families of this suborder which are 

 represented in Japan. 



268. ALCA TROILE. 



(GUILLEMOT.) 



Colymhm troile, Linnetls, Syst. Nftti i. p. S20 (1766). 



The Guillemot has white tips tO the secondaries at all ages and 

 seasons, and white under wing-coverts ; the bill from frontal featheils 

 is longer than 1 inch. The combination of the first and last of these 

 characters is found, in no other Japanese species of the genus. 



Figures : Baird, Brewer, and Ridgway, Water-Birds N. Amer. ii. 

 p. 486 (woodcut of bill). 



A form of the Common Guillemot known as Pallas's Guillemot is 

 a resident on the coast of Yezzo and the Kurile Islands, and 

 probably strays in wiater along the coasts of the more southerly 

 Japanese Islands. I have six examples collected by Ml?. Snow on 

 the Kurile Islands, and two obtained by Mr. Henson at Hakodadii 

 There is a third example fpom the latter locality, procured by Captain 

 Blakiston, in the Swinhoe collection. The variation in the shape of 

 the bill in even this small series is very remarkable. The length 

 from the frontal feathers varies from 1"8 to 1"4 inches, and the 

 height at the extremity of the nostrils from "7 to "45 inch. 



Five of the examples are evidently identical with the birds described 

 as Cepphus lomvia (Pallas, Zoogr. Rosso-Asiat. ii. p. 345) ', they are 

 large (wing 8^ to 9^ inches), and very dark coloured, they have large 

 thick bills with a short gonys, and the upper mandible is pale and 



T 



