CATALOGUE OF CANADIAN BIRDS. 2$ 



31a. Pallas's Miirre. Western Thick-billed Guillemot. 



Urialomvia arra (Pall.) Ridgw. 1884. 



Wherever the coasts and islands of Alaska are bordered by 

 rugged cliffs and rocky declivities, this bird is found in great 

 abundance. It occurs at Kadiak and along the adjacent coasts 

 from Sitka to the peninsula of Alaska. Common around the 

 Prybiloff Islands and the other islands in Behring Sea, and in 

 Norton Sound ; it breeds in small numbers in Chamisso Inlet 

 and Kotzebue Sound and on the cliffs near Cape Lisburne. {Nel- 

 son.) Extremely abundant at Bogoslov where they breed in 

 millions, and throughout the Aleutian Islands. Turner.) Only 

 reaches Point Barrow as a rare straggler. {Murdoch.) 



Breeding Notes — This bird lays its single egg upon the points 

 and narrow shelves, on the faces of the. cliff-fronts of the Prybiloff 

 Islands, straddling over the eggs side by side, as thickly as they 

 can crowd, making no nests. Its curious straddling by which 

 the egg is warmed and hatched lasts nearly twenty-eight days 

 and then the young comes out with a dark thick coat of down, 

 which is supplanted by the plumage and color of the old bird, in 

 less than six weeks. {Elliott)) 



At Egg Island, about ten miles from the entrance of St. 

 Michael Harbour many of these birds breed every year on the 

 bluffs and ledges. The &^^ is laid on the bare rock without any 

 pretense of a nest. Only one egg" is laid in a season if undis- 

 turbed, but will be renewed if the season is not too far advanced. 

 The egg is very large, having a bluish-green ground with dark- 

 brown mottlings of variable outline. {Turner.) 



MUSEUM SPECIMENS. 



We have four eggs of this species collected on St. Paul Island, 

 Behring Sea, in June, 1897 by Mr. J. M. Macoun. 



XV. ALCA Linnaeus. 1758. 



32. Razor-billed Auk. 



Alca tarda Linn. 1758. 



Occurs occasionally near Point Lepreau and Partridge Island ; 

 also common near the Grand Manan, N.B. {Chamberlain) Not 

 very common in N. S. in winter. {Downs) Common throughout 

 the summer and autumn along the Newfoundland shores. {Reeks.) 



