718 BULLETIN 50, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 
Large Alcinse (wing 182-230 mm.) with the narrow and pointed 
bill much longer than tarsus, without transverse grooves, the culmen 
nearly straight basally, gently curved distally; loral antia forming a 
distinct angle about midway between culmen and tomium or nearer 
to the former than to the latter, and tail slightly rounded, with rec- 
trices not pointed. 
Bill much longer than tarsus, elongate-subconical, moderately com- 
pressed, without grooves; culmen nearly straight basally, gradualy 
decurved terminally, or gently curved from near base the curvature 
increasing distally, sometimes ascending or more or less elevated at 
extreme base; gonys long (but shorter than distance from nostril to 
tip of maxilla), more or less prominent basally, faintly concave 
sub-basally; maxillary tomium faintly convex near middle portion, 
faintly concave distally, distinctly notched subterminally ; mandibular 
tomium nearly straight for basal half or more, slightly decurved dis- 
tally; mandibular rami covered for most of its extent with short, 
dense, velvety feathering, only the anterior portion and a narrow strip 
along upper (tomial) edge unfeathered, the anterior outline of the 
feathering forming an oblique doubly curved line (concave below, 
convex above) from the mental antia to near the tomial edge; whole 
loral region, including nasal fosse, clothed with similar dense, short, 
velvety feathering, this forming a prominent angle or antia between 
nostril and culmen (its apex decidedly anterior to anterior end of 
nostril), the longitudinally elliptical or narrowly oval nostrils overhung 
(except anteriorly) by the lower edge of this feathering. Wing mod- 
erate, the longest primary (outermost or two outermost) exceeding 
distal secondaries by more than half the length of wing. Tail about 
one-fourth as long as wing, slightly rounded, the rectrices 12 in num- 
ber, not pointed. Tarsus sometimes longer, sometimes shorter, than 
exposed culmen,? the acrotarsium transversely scutellate, but scutella 
broken, more or less, on inner side of upper portion; middle toe, with- 
out claw, much longer than tarsus; outer toe (without claw) as long 
as middle toe, the inner as long as first two phalanges of middle toe. 
Plumage and coloration.—Feathering of head (especially the ante- 
rior portion) very dense, soft, and velvety; a narrow crease or furrow 
from posterior angle of eye to side of nape, following upper margin 
of auricular region. Upper parts plain grayish brown or dusky, 
the secondaries narrowly but sharply tipped with white; under parts 
immaculate white, the outer portion of sides and flanks streaked 
with grayish brown. In breeding plumage, sides of head and neck, 
chin, throat, and foreneck uniform velvety brown; in winter, chin, 
throat, foreneck, and sides of head and neck white, broken by a 
£a Owing to extensive feathering of basal portion of maxilla, the exposed culmen 
is considerably shorter than the actual length of the bill. 
