806 



SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS.— PYGOPODES. 



340. 



gray; under parts from the breast pure white, shading insensibly into the color of the sides and 

 flanks. Inner webs of wing- and tail-feathers grayish-brown, paler toward base, the shafts of 

 the primaries duU whitish at base. Length 15.50; extent 26.00';;TWng 7.25 ; tail 2.50; tarsus 

 1.20 ; middle toe and claw 1.85 ; outer do. 1.70 ; inner do. 1.40 ; chord'of culmen without horn 

 1.00, with horn 1.40 ; gape 2.00 ; nostril to tip of horn 0.75 ; total depth of bUl, including horn, 

 1.25. In winter : Plumage the same; iris white ; no horn nor accessory piece under the bill, 

 these being shed ; place of horn occupied by a soft dark-c6lored basement membrane or cere 

 (" Sagmatorhina suekleyi," Fig. 537). Young : BUI like that of adults in winter, lacking 

 horn, but every way weaker, hardly more than half as large. Mostly dark-colored. No white 

 feathers on side of head. White of under parts overlaid and marWed with dark-gray ends of 

 the feathers ; black of upper pai'ts brownish. The first spring the horn grows, the accessory 

 piece develops, and the plumage clears up. Nestlings are covered with smoky-brown down. 

 Both coasts and islands of N. Pacific, to Lower California and Japan; not specially arctic; 

 e. g., breeds on the Farallone Islands. 



SIMOKHYN'CHTJS. (Gr. trijios, simos, snub-nosed ; piyx"^, hrugchos, beak.) Snub-nosed 

 Auks. Of moderate and very small size, and stocky shape. Head usually crested or with 

 peculiar feathers. BiU of indeterminate shape, differing with each species, furnished with a 

 varying number of deciduous homy elements. Nostrils entirely unfeathered. Wings and tail 

 ordinary. Feet small; tarsi shorter than middle toe, entirely reticulate; toes long, middle and 

 outer of about equal lengths, claw of the fonner longest ; inner claw reaching base of middle ; 

 all curved and compressed. Four species, very distinct ; the queerest little auks in the world. 

 Each has been made type of a genus ; S. psittaculus differs more from the rest than these do 

 from one another, and might stand apart as a genus (Phaleris), the others being rated as sub- 

 genera {Simorhynehus proper, Tylorhamphus, and Ciceronid). 



Analysis of Species. 



Upper mandible oval, lower mandible falcate, rictus curved upward. No crest (P?ialeri3) psittaculus 858 

 Upper mandible triangular, lower straight, rictus horizontal, sinuate, 

 A long frontal crest, curling over forward. 



One series of white feathers on each side of head (5i?7M>rAyncAMS proper) cristatellus 859 



More than one series of white feathers on each side of head (ry/orAam_pftttS) .... pygmceus 860 



Shortwhitehair-likefeathers over the forehead; no crest (Oaceronia) jmsUlus 861 



S. psitta'culus. (Lat. psittaculus, a little parrot. Fig. 439.) Paekoqubt Auk. Pug- 

 N08ED Auk. Bin moderately large, much compressed, densely feathered for some distance at 



•base, but not to the nostrils, which are nan-owly 

 oval, overhung by a projecting scale or shield, 

 which is deciduous. Profile of biU oval; of 

 upper mandible narrowly oval ; culmen gently 

 convex, declinate, tomial edge more convex, ac- 

 clinate, meeting at an obtuse tip; lower mandi- 

 ble extremely slender, falcate, curved upward, 

 with concave tomia, very convex gonys, and 

 acute point. Frontal feathers embracing cul- 

 men with a reSntrance, thence dropping per- 

 pendicularly to commissure; those on lower 

 mandible not reaching quite so far; interramal 

 space fully feathered. Adult : In summer with 

 the nasal saddle, moulted in one piece in winter ; shape of bUl not materially altered, however, 

 the piece being small and flattish. Bill vermilion or coral-red, usually enamel-yellow at tip 

 and along edges. No curly crest on forehead, but a series of long white filamentous feathers 

 from the eye downward and backward. Entire upper parts, with chin, throat, breast, and 



Fig. 539. — Parroquet Auk, nat. size. 

 H. W. EUlott.) 



(Ad nat. del. 



