254 CURLED-CRESTED PHALERIS. 



Adult, 10, wing, 6§. 



North-west coast of America. 



Bill shorter than the head, stout, straightish, broad at the base, compressed 

 toward the end. Upper mandible with a prominent basal rim as in the 

 Puffins, its dorsal outline convex and declinate, the sides sloping, a promi- 

 nent line descending from the base of the ridge to the anterior part of the 

 nostril, which is linear-oblong, and near the margin, besides which there are 

 several faint grooves; at the base is a somewhat triangular horny plate 

 detached from the rest of the mandible, of which latter the margin is very- 

 convex behind the nostrils, then ascends, forms a slight festoon before them, 

 and finally a deep sinus behind the decurved, narrow, but rather obtuse tip. 

 Lower mandible with the angle rather long and wide, the dorsal line 

 ascending and a little convex, the sides sloping outwards, a ridge passing 

 obliquely from behind the angle to near the tip, the edge sinuate in cor- 

 respondence with that of the upper, the tip truncate. 



Body full and compact; neck short and thick; head rather large, ovate. 

 Feet short, placed far behind; tibia bare for a quarter of an inch; tarsus very 

 short, much compressed, anteriorly with small oblique scutella, the rest 

 reticulate; hind toe wanting; anterior toes scutellate, connected by emargi- 

 nate webs; the inner toe much shorter than the outer, which is of the same 

 length as the middle, claws rather stout, moderately arched, compressed, 

 rather obtuse; on the anterior part of the forehead is a tuft of about twenty 

 linear recurved feathers, of which the longest measures Z\ inches. 



Plumage dense, blended, glossy. Wings of moderate length, narrow, 

 pointed; primaries incurved, tapering, the first longest, the rest rapidly 

 graduated; secondaries rounded. Tail very short, rounded, of fourteen 

 rounded feathers. 



Bill orange; feet greyish-blue. The general colour of the upper parts is 

 brownish-black, of the lower deep purplish-grey. There is a short line of 

 elongated linear acuminate white feathers, commencing under the eye, and 

 proceeding along the side of the neck. 



Length to end of tail 10 inches; bill along the ridge -/j, along the edge of 

 lower mandible 1; wing from flexure 6 T 9 2-; tail l-^j tarsus 1 T V; inner toe \^, 

 its claw -f|; middle toe lyf , its claw f%; outer toe 1 T 7 2, its claw T \. 



