~ ne ae a 2 Re See ee

 

were

oa

URIA CARBO.

Kurile Guillemot.

Cepphus Carbo, Pall. Zoog., p. 350. t. 79.

Uria Carbo, Brandt, Bull. de l’Acad. Sc. Imp. St. Petersb. vol. ii. 1837.—Gray and Mitch. Gen. of Birds, vol. iii,
) p. 645, Carbo, sp. 3.

 

Tar rocky coast of the great Peninsula of Kamtschatka, the Okotsk and Behring’s Seas are the native
habitat of this species of Guillemot, which may be regarded as the representative there of the Uria Grylle

e of Europe and America, and where it doubtless performs the same offices in the economy of nature, and
¢ exhibits precisely similar habits. It is an extremely rare bird in the collections of Europe, which is solely
< attributable to the circumstance of its being an inhabitant of such remote and little-frequented localities as
e above-mentioned. It was first made known to science by the great traveller and naturalist Pallas, who states
é that it is only found in the Eastern seas, that it is very plentiful about the Aleutian Islands, and especially on
a the rocks of Oonalaska, and that it migrates in the spring to the Kurile Islands, which stretch across from
: Kamtschatka to Japan.

This species is altogether a larger and more robust bird than the Uria Grylle, and, moreover, differs from
it considerably in the colouring of the face, as shown in the accompanying Plate, the eye being surrounded
by a large circle of pure white, presenting a striking contrast to the sombre hue of the general plumage.

I am indebted to Dr. Hartlaub and the other directors of the Museum at Bremen for the loan of a fine
specimen of this bird, which with the greatest liberality was transmitted to London to enable me to give a
figure of it in the “ Birds of Asia”. May I hope that similar favours will be accorded me by coe ee
possess examples of the rare species described by Pallas and other Russian travellers, and of which so little
is at present known? Such attentions will be duly appreciated and suitably acknowledged. oo

An irregular spot on either side of the base of the upper mandible, a second at the base of ae a 2
the under mandible, the chin, and a large patch surrounding the eye and passing some distance ae a
side of the neck, white ; the remainder of the plumage sooty black ; bill black ; legs and feet red nails black ;
irides red.

The figures are of the natural size.

 

ot FOF E rx