178 CHAPTERS ON THE NATURAL HISTORY 



deed to attempl to describe in I lie present chapter. Most of these 

 are to be found in the North Pacific and are nearly entirely ab- 

 senl from I he A 1 lantic ocean. In size I hey range all the way from 

 the Least auklel (Simorhynchus pusillus), which has a length of 

 about (5.50 inches, to the Rhinoceros auklel (Oerorhinca monocer- 

 utuj, which has a length of more than fifteen inches. They also 

 vary most remarkably in appearance, plumage, and general char- 

 acter, especially in the extraordinary changes that are under- 

 gone by the bill during the breeding season, and of certain orna- 

 ments about the eyes in some of the related species (puffins). 

 About sixteen years ago these changes were closely studied and 

 ably described by the eminent French naturalist, Louis Bureau, 

 who showed the times and methods of moulting id' these peculiar 

 horny appendages. All these birds are excellent flyers, and swim 

 under water with the greatest possible facility. During the 

 breeding season they are highly gregarious, and congregate in 

 millions at their breeding stations — the rocky islands of their 

 northern home. They lay from one to three eggs, are supposed 

 to be monogamous; and These exclusively marine fowlets have 

 no notes beyond occasional harsh cries. They all subsist upon 

 such animals, as small fish and Crustacea, they capture in the sea. 

 In the summer many of them possess handsome crests and 

 plumes upon the top or the sides of the head, and the young when 

 first hatched are covered with down, which is long and soft. 

 During the year they assume a plumage which differs from their 

 parents, and the latter also have, as a rule, a different winter and 

 summer dress. In order to give the reader an idea of the appear- 

 ance of an adult specimen of one of these anklets in breeding 

 plumage, I present a drawing of the Whiskered auklet (Sim- 

 oi'hynohus pygmceus), which I copied from a colored plate of Ridg- 

 way's, illustrating Turner's "Contributions to the Natural His- 

 tory of Alaska" (p. 1211). These little fellows are very clumsy 

 walkers on the land, and some of the species but shuffle about in 

 the most helpless manner imaginable. At rest they stand erect 

 from the fact thai their legs are placed at the posterior extremity 

 of their bodies. 



Other species of the suborder we have under consideration are 

 seen in the murres and guillemots of the genera I lid and 

 Cepphus respectively, (here being about three representative's 

 of the latter, and four of the former genus. As a rule they 

 are very different appearing birds as compared with the 



