The Pigeon Guillemot 



Taken on the Southeast I 



PIGEON GUILLEMOTS AT HOME 



purplish black or rich dark sepia (which shadows or "washes" to tawny olive) and with 

 more or less under-shell markings of violet-gray. Av. size 60.5 x 41 (2.38 x 1.61) ; index 

 67.7. Season: May-July 15; one brood. 



General Range. — Breeding from Wrangel Island and the extreme northeastern 

 portion of Siberia throughout the coasts and islands of Bering Sea; on the Asiatic side 

 of the Pacific Ocean to Kamchatka and the Commander Islands, and on the American 

 side south to the Santa Barbara Islands, California; retiring in winter from the northern 

 portion of its range and found south to Japan and Lower California. 



Distribution in California. — Fairly common summer resident, breeding about 

 rocky headlands and upon islands south to Santa Barbara Island. Seldom seen in 

 winter, when it probably stands out well to sea. 



Authorities. — Cassin ( L ria columba), in Baird, Rep. Pac. R. R. Surv., vol. ix., 

 1858, p. 912 (Farallons); W. E Bryant, Proc. Calif. Acad. Sci., ser. 2, i., 1888, p. 30 

 (Farallon Ids., breeding; habits; desc. nest and eggs); Wright and Snyder, Condor, vol. 

 xv., 1913, p. 88 (Santa Cruz I.; desc. nests); Howell, Pac. Coast Avifauna, no. 12, 1917, 

 p. 24 (s. Calif, ids.) ;Bent, U. S. Nat. Mus., Bull. no. 107, 1919, p. 167 (life hist. ; desc. and 

 photos of nest and eggs, etc.). 



THE GENUS Cepphus, to which this Sea Pigeon belongs, enjoys 

 a circumpolar distribution. The prevailing coolness of California's 

 coastal climate in summer links us, curiously, with the Arctic; and we 

 are favored, therefore, with the southernmost extension not only of this 

 genus, but in the case of the Xantus Murrelet of the entire order Alci- 



1476 



