The Horn-billed Puffin 



tradition of boisterous misconduct. Says Mr. H. W. Elliott, in writing 

 of the birds on the Pribilovs: 1 "It is the only bird on these islands 

 which seems to quarrel for ever and ever with its mate. The hollow 

 reverberations of its anger, scolding and vituperation from the nuptial 

 chambers, are the most characteristic sounds, and indeed the only ones 

 that come from the recesses of the rocks. No sympathy need be expended 

 on the female. She is just as big and just as violent as her lord and mas- 

 ter." 



No. 300 



Horn-billed Puffin 



A. O. U. No. 15. Cerorhinca monocerata (Pallas). 



Synonyms. — Unicorn Puffin. Horn-billed Auklet. "Rhino." 



Description. — Adults in breeding plumage: Upperparts sooty black or glossy 

 brownish black; color shading insensibly on sides of head, quickly on sides of neck and 

 breast, into dull sooty gray or smoke-gray of throat, chest, sides, flanks, and wing- 

 linings; remaining underparts white, or white faintly washed with smoke-gray; shafts 

 of remiges whitish basally, in proportions decreasing from outermost; a maxillary and 

 a post-ocular stripe of lengthened, lancelinear, white feathers; bill orange, duller along 

 tomia, black on culmen, a horny projection above nostril at base of bill about .60 

 (mm 15.2) high (from nostril); a small deciduous plate at base of under mandible; feet 

 and legs yellow above, black below; irides hazel. Adults in winter: Without horny 

 appendage and inframandibular plate; irides white. Young of the year: Bill much 

 smaller than in adult; no white stripes on head; general plumage much as in adult in 

 winter, but browner, and white of underparts washed or tipped with sooty-gray. 

 Nestlings are covered with heavy slaty black down. Length of adult: 330.2-393.7 

 (13.00-15.50); average of 10 Monterey specimens: length 370.5 (14.59); wing 182.7 

 (7.19); tail 59.2 (2.33); culmen from base of horn 26.2 (1.03); depth of bill at angle of 

 gonys 15.5 (.61) ; tarsus 29.4 (1.16). 



Recognition Marks. — Teal size; horn (in breeding season), and white stripes of 

 head distinctive in adult; dull plumage with size not likely to be confused in juvenile. 



Nesting. — Does not breed in California. Nest: At end of burrow driven 5 to 

 15 feet in perpendicular or sloping sea-wall. Egg: Single, ovate, ovate-pyriform, or 

 elliptical ovate; dull white, immaculate, or more commonly exhibiting traces of laven- 

 der, violet, or deep brown, in spots or scrawls. Av. size 68.6x45.7 (2.70x1.80). 

 Season: May i-June 10. 



General Range. — Coasts and islands on both sides of the northern Pacific 

 Ocean, breeding upon (at least) the Kuril Islands, and from Sitka, Alaska, south to 

 Washington (Smith's Island, Protection Island, and Destruction Island). In winter 

 south to Lower California and northern Japan. 



Occurrence in California. — Common resident in the ocean in winter, especially 

 about the Santa Barbara Islands. [Stated by Heermann to have been found by him 



1 Report on the Seal Islands of Alaska, 1880. 



1518 



