278 GAVi^. 



breed in some numbers on the cliffs of Kodushima, one of the Seven 

 Islands (Stejneger, Proc. United States Nat. Mus. 1887, p. 482). 



It is a very rare birdi and has only occurred elsewhere on the 

 opposite shore of the Pacific south of Vancouver Island. 



273. ALCA MARMORATA. 

 (MAEBLED GUILLEMOT.) 



Colymhiis marmoratvs, Gmelinj Syst. Nat. i. p. 583 (1788). 



The Marbled Guillemot may be distinguished from all its Japanese 

 congeners by its combination of the two characters — scapulars streaked 

 uith white (winter) or buff (summer), and no white on the upper 

 surface of the wings (wing- coverts, or tips of secondaries). 



Figures : Latham, Gen. Syn. iii. pt. ii. pi. 96 ; Audubon, Orni- 

 thological Biography, v. pi. 430 ; Audubon, Birds of America, vii. 

 pi. 475. 



Although the Marbled Guillemot was known both to Pallas and 

 Latham, I can find no record of its occurrence either in the Kurile 

 Islands or in Japan earlier than that of the female in the Swinhoe 

 collection, which was procured in May by Captain Blakiston at 

 Hakodadi (Swinhoe, Ibis, 1874, p. 166). There is a male in the 

 Swinhoe collection apparently procured at the same time, but it is 

 in full summer plumage, whilst the female is only beginning to lose 

 its winter dress. I have another male collected by Mr. Hanson at 

 Hakodadi on the 23rd of March, which has half completed its spring 

 monlt, and a female collected by Captain Blakiston at Hakodadi in 

 November in full winter plumage. I have a female collected by 

 Mr. Snow on the Kurile Islands in which the feathers of the upper 

 parts are tipped with greyish white instead of dark bufB, and the 

 under wing-coverts are mottled with grey instead of being all grey. 

 Mr. Owston has collected this species at Yokohama (Blakiston and 

 Pryer, Trans. As. Soc. Japan, 1882, p. 90). 



The breeding-range of the Marbled Guillemot extends eastwards 

 from the Kurile Islands across the Aleutian chain and the islands on 

 the south coast of Alaska as far south as Vancouver Island. It is 

 not known to occur north of the Aleutian Islands. 



Dr. Stejneger divides the Marbled Guillemot into two species, 

 which he calls Brachyrhamphus marmoratus and B. periim ; the former 

 is probably the male and the latter the female or immature male. 



