山 階 鳥 研 報(J. Yamashina Inst. Ornithol.),28:42-44,1996 A Historical Record of a Razorbill Alca torda from Japan Guido O. Keijl* Key words: Historical record, Razorbill, Alca torda, Auks, Japan, Distribution, Von Siebold. Between 1823 and 1827 Philipp F. B. von Siebold collected birds, other animals and plants in Japan, which were sent to the "Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie" (present- ly called National Museum of Natural History, NNM) in Leiden, The Netherlands. Between 1844 and 1850 the comprehensive Fauna Japonica was published, existing on five volumes on animal life in Japan. Von Siebold was the editor, but the chapters on birds were written by Coenraad Jacob Temminck and Hermann Schlegel. In the Fauna Japonica a large number of birds was described, and many depicted, for the first time. While working in the bird collection of the NNM in Leiden I came across a Razorbill Alca torda which, according to the label, was collected by Von Siebold in Japan (Fig. 1). As the Razorbill is not known to occur in the Pacific, I suspected that mixing of labels had occurred in the past. However, the Razorbill turned out to be the same one as described in the Fauna Japonica (1842, volume II, Aves, page 125). In the text Temminck & Schlegel stated that the species occurs at sea off Japan in winter. The Razorbill collected by Von Siebold is in winter plumage (Fig. 1). As described by Temminck & Schlegel (1842) the bird is in moult, with flight feathers growing. It is an adult, showing a white band on the bill tip and two well-developed bill grooves (cf. De Wijs 1985). The wing length is approximately 147mm, the bill length approximately 28.2 mm (a small part of the bill sheath is missing), the bill depth at the gonys 18.0mm, and the tarsus 29.8mm. The face is mainly white, but some black feathers are admixed. The tail feathers are missing or growing, except for the central pair (t1), of which only two long shafts with a few barbs remain. When Temminck & Schlegel wrote that Razorbills occur off Japan in winter a mistake was made by Von Siebold, who mistook the birds he saw at sea for Razorbills instead of Guillemots Uria aalge or, more likely, Brunnich's Guillemots, U. lomvia. Both Razorbill and Brunnich's Guillemot share the same black-and-white head pattern in winter and have a short stubby bill, and are therefore easily misidentified. Both Guillemot and Briunnich's Guillemot occur in Japan: the former is known as a breeding and wintering species, while the latter is a fairly common winter visitor (Brazil 1991). The record of the Razorbill collected by Von Siebold was questioned by Seebohm (1890; p. 283-284), who surmised this bird to have been an immature or winter plumaged Rhinoceros Auklet Cerorhinca monocerata. His opinion was shared by Sharpe (1898; p. 609) and his comments were cited by Kuroda (1934; p. 18) and Yamashina (1975; p. 190 Received 9 August 1995, Revised 12 November 1995, Accepted 13 November 1995. * Correspondent address: c/o National Museum of Natural History , P. O. Box 9517 2300 RA Leiden The Netherlands 42 A Historical Record of a Razorbill Alca Torda from Japan 43 Fig. 1. Razorbill Alca torda, catalogue number 1, collected by P. F, von Siebold in Japan. (Photo: National Museum of Natural History, Leiden, The Netherlands). and 209) in their explanatory notes of the reprinted copies of the Fauna Japonica . In the Razorbill two subspecies are recognised: the smaller winged and smaller billed A. t. islandica, which breeds over much of the northern Atlantic, and the larger nominate race, which occurs mainly in the Baltic. According to measurements given in Cramp (1985), the specimen in Leiden is among the smallest Razorbills known and thus fits the measurements for a female of the race islandica. According to Cramp (1985), Razorbills moult flight and tail feathers simultaneously during August-October, after the breeding season. Information on individuals retaining flight-or tail feathers while other flight feathers are shed is lacking (Bedard 1985, cf. Cramp 1985). In the northern Atlantic Ocean-the only area where they occur-Razorbills breed between 43° and 62° latitude (Nettleship & Evans 1985, Godfrey 1986). The species is found breeding in the White Sea and the tip of the Kola Peninsula (Il'ichev & Flint 1990) in the northeast, and to Digges island, northwest territories, just northwest of Quebec in the west (Godfrey 1986). There are no colonies known further east along the northern Russian coasts east of the Kola Peninsula (e.g. Rogacheva 1992), although small popula- tions could go undetected in colonies of Brunnich's Guillemots (cf. Van Franeker & Camphuysen 1984). The Von Siebold-specimen therefore must have wandered from the North Atlantic, through the northern Ice Sea along northern Siberia or northern Canada , through the Bering Strait into the Pacific Ocean. It will probably remain a mystery how Von Siebold managed to shoot the Razorbill, and why he did not collect any Guillemots or Brunnich's Guillemots, none of which are mentioned in the Fauna Japonica, and none of which are in the collection of the NNM. Perhaps the Razorbill was in poor condition and thus more easy to collect . Although it only rarely happens, more auks, surprisingly all of them belonging to the smaller species, have straggled away from their "own" ocean: -a Parakeet Auklet Cyclorrhynchus psittacula to Sweden in 1860 (Cramp 1985); -a Crested Auklet Aethia cristatella to Iceland in 1912 (Horring 1933) ; 44 Guido O. Keijl -a Marbled Murrelet Brachyrhamphus marmoratus to Montreal , Quebec in 1913 (Sealy et al. 1982); -a Marbled Murrelet B. m. perdix to Quebec in 1979 (Sealy et al. 1982); -several Ancient Murrelets Synthliborhamphus antiquus to inland North America (Sealy et al. 1982); -and , finally, an Ancient Murrelet to the United Kingdom in 1990 (Campey & Mortimer 1990). The Razorbill in Japan therefore is not just the only large auk, but also the oldest registered one, known to have shifted between oceans. I thank Rene Dekker (NNM) and Kees Roselaar (Institute for Systematics and Population Biology, Amsterdam) for their comments on a concept of this article. References Bedard, J. 1985. Evolution and Characteristics of the Atlantic Alcidae. In: Nettleship D. N. & Birkhead, T. R. The Atlantic Alcidae. Academic Press, Inc., London. pp. 1-51. Brazil, M. A. 1991. The birds of Japan. London. Campey, R. & Mortimer K. 1990. Ancient Murrelet on Lundy-A new Western Palearctic bird. Birding World 3: 211-212. Cramp, S. (ed.) 1985. The birds of the Western Palearctic, Vol. IV. Oxford, New York. Franeker, J. A. van & Camphuysen, C. J. 1984. Report of Fulmarus glacialis Expedition II, Jan Mayen, June- August 1983. Versl. en Techn. Gegevens No. 39, Instituut voor Taxonomische Zoologie, Amsterdam. Godfrey, W. E. 1986. The birds of Canada. (Revised edition). Natl. Mus. Nat. Sci.-National Museum of Canada. Ottawa. Horring, R. 1933. Aethia cristatella (Pallas) skudt ved Island. Dansk Ornit. Foren. Tidsskr. 27: 103-105. Il'ichev, V. D. & Flint, V. E. (eds.) 1990. Ptitsy SSSR-Chistikovie. Nauka, Moskva. Kuroda, N. 1934. In: P. F. von Siebold. Fauna Japonica. Vol. IV. Aves. [In Japanese.] Nettleship, D. N. & Evans, P. G. H. 1985. Distribution and status of the Atlantic Alcidae. In: Nettleship D. N. & Birkhead T. R. The Atlantic Alcidae. Academic Press, Inc., London. pp. 53-154. Rogacheva, H. 1992. The birds of Central Siberia. Husum. Sealy, S. G., Carter, H. R. & Alison, D. 1982. Occurrences of the Asiatic Marbled Murrelet [Brachyrhamphus marmoratus perdix (Pallas) ] in North America. Auk 99: 778-781. Seebohm, H. 1890. Birds of the Japanese Empire. London. Sharpe, R. B. 1898. Catalogue of the birds in the British Museum. Vol. XXVI. London. Temminck, C. J. & Schlegel, G. 1842. Descriptions des oiseaux observes au Japon par les voyageurs Hollandais. In: P. F. von Siebold. Fauna Japonica. Vol. II. Aves. Leiden. Wijs, W. J. R. de 1985. Reliability of ageing Razorbills. Seabird 8: 58. Yamashina, Y. 1975. In: P.F. von Siebold. Fauna Japonica. Vol. IV. Aves. [In Japanese.] オオハ シウ ミガラ スAlca tordaの 日本古記録 1823年-27年,von Sieboldが 日 本 で 動 植 物 を 採 集 し,ラ イ デ ン博 物 館 に 送 っ た 。 著 者 は,ラ イ デ ン博 物 館 に 収 蔵 さ れ て い る そ れ ら の 鳥 類 標 本 を 調 査 中 に,ラ ベ ル に"von Siebold, Japan"と 書 か れ た オ オ ハ シ ウ ミ ガ ラ ス の 冬 羽,翼 換 羽 中 の 本 剥 製 一 体 を み っ け た 。 こ の 標 本 は 測 定 上,小 形 の 北 大 西 洋 の 亜 種Alca torja islandicaと 同 定 で き る 。 こ の 個 体 は 恐 ら く ベ ー リ ン グ海 峡 を 経 て 日 本 ま で 迷 行 し た も の と思 う 。Siboldは ウ ミガ ラ ス 類 を 積 極 的 に 採 集 して い な い の で,多 分 衰 弱 し て い た な ど の 理 由 で こ の 個 体 を 収 集 で き た の で あ ろ う。 こ の 標 本 はTemminck & Schlegel (1842)がCauna Japonica II, Aves p.125, Fig.2に 記 載 し た が, そ の 後 標 本 そ の も の を 調 査 した 人 は な く,Seebohm(1890)は ウ ト ウ の 冬 羽 が 幼 鳥 と 推 定 し,Sharpe(1898), 黒 田 長 礼(1934),山 階(1975)も そ れ を 引 用 し た に す ぎ な い 。 今 回 は じ め て 収 蔵 標 本 調 査 で 本 種 の 日本 記 録 が明 らかにされた。 このようなウミスズメ目の種の大洋間迷行記録を附記 し,そ の可能性を示唆 した。 (文責 黒田長久).