ALCID.'E — THE AUKS — URIA. 485 



oil St. George's. Tliey are generally scattered, by ones, twos, and threes, among 

 tlionsands and tens of thousands of the arr<i. 



The following extracts from a letter written by Dr. W. 0. Ayres are interesting 

 as showing the early history of the traffic in the eggs of this species. It is dated 

 San Francisco, Oct. 13, 1854 : The " Farallones de los Frayles " are a gronp of small 

 islands lying a little over twenty miles west of the entrance to the Bay of San Fran- 

 cisco. They are almost inaccessible, entirely uninhabited — with a single exception 

 — and afford therefore very naturally a resort for great multitudes of birds. Some 

 time since, a company was organized in this city for the purpose of bringing the 

 eggs of these birds to market. An imperfect idea of the number of the birds may be 

 formed from the fact that this company sold here during the last season — a period 

 of less than two months, in June, July, and August — more than five hundred thou- 

 sand eggs ; that all these were gathered on a single one of the islands ; and that in 

 the opinion of the eggers, not more than one e^gg in six of those deposited on that 

 island was gathered. The eggs were gathered in only one limited portion of the 

 island known as the Great Farallon, called the Rookery, in which one species of bird 

 they called the Murre swarmed in myriads, there being no other species among them. 

 The eggs vary to a greater degree than I have knoAvn in any other instance. 



Accompanying this letter are outlines of seven eggs (two of them evidently those 

 of Cepphus columha) and the measurements of twelve others. The broadest measures 

 o.GO by 2.23 inches, while two others measure, one 3.G6 by 1.87, and the other 3.G4 

 by 1.77. One very pointed egg measures 3.43 by 1.81 inches. The least length is 

 3.07 inches. The ground-color of this e<g(g is usually a pure white ; but quite fre- 

 quently a bluish-white, greenish-white, cream-white, buffy white, blue, green, dilute 

 rufous, etc., constitute the ground. The markings are combinations of subdued lav- 

 ender, pale brown, and deep brownish black. In some these are sparse ; others are 

 thickly covered by them. 



Uria lomvia. 



a. Lomvia. BUtJNNICH'S GUILLEMOT. 



Aha lomvia, Linn. S. N. ed. 10, I. 1758, 130, no. 4. 



Cataradcs lomvia, Bryant, Pr. Boston Soe. 1861, 9, figs. 1, 4. 



Uria svarbag, Bkunn. Oni. Bor. 1764, 27, no. 110 (winter pi.). 



Lomvia svarbag, CouEs, Pr. Ac. Nat. Sci. Pliilacl. 1868, 80. 



Uria Briianichii, Sabine, Trans. Linn. Soc. XIL 1818. 538. — Sw. k Rich. F. B. A. IL 1831, 477. 



NuTT. Man. IL 1834, 529. —Gould, B. Eur. V. 1837, pi. 398. — Aun. Orn. Biog. 111. 1835, 



336, pL 345 ; B. Am. oct. ed. VIL 1844, pL 472. 

 Lomvia arra Briinnichi, Ridgw. Nom. X. Am. B. 1881, no. 764 a. 

 Uria arra, Cass, in Baird's B. N. Am. 1858, 914 (not of Pall. 1826). — Baird, B. N. Am. 1859, 



no. 731. 

 Lomvia arra, (pt.) CouES, Key, 1872, 346 ; 2d Check List, 1882, no. 876. 



Uria Franccsii, Leach, Trans. Linn. Soc. XIL 1818, 588. — De Kay, N. Y. Zool. Birds, 1844, 280. 

 Uriapolaris, Brehm, Handb. Yog. Deutschl. 1831, 984. 



h. Arra. THE THICK-BILLED GUILLEMOT. 



Ccpi)l>us arra. Pall. Zoog. Rosso-As. IL 1826, 347. 



Uria arra, Cass. Pr. PliiLad. Acad. 1864, 324. 



Lomvia arra, CouES, Key, 1872, 346 (part); Elliott's Alaska, 1875, 211 ; 2d Check List, 1882, no. 



876 (part).— Ridgw. Noni. N. Am. B. 1881, no. 764. 

 Uria Briinnichii, of authors referring to the Thick-billed Guillemot of the North Pacific. 



Hab. Coasts and islands of the North AtLantic, Arctic, and Pacific oceans ; on the Atlantic 

 coast of North America, south iu whiter to New Jersey, breeding from the Gulf of St. Lawrence 



