The Pigeon Guillemot 
Taken on the Southeast Farallon Photo by the Author 
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 ( JJria 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- 
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