North American Birds Eggs. 



21 



fouiidlaml, marks the place of 

 their disappearance from our 

 shores. There are about sev- 

 enty known specimens of the 

 bird preserved, and about the 

 same number of eRtjs. The 

 immediate cause of the ex- 

 tinction of these birds was 

 their destruction for food by 

 fishermen and immigrants, 

 and later for the use of their 

 feathers commercially. The 

 single egg that they laid was 

 about 5.00 X 3 inches, the 

 ground color was huffy white, 

 and the spots brownish and 

 blackish. The markings var- 

 ied in endless pattern as do 

 those of the smaller Auk. 

 There are but two real eggs 

 (plaster casts in imitation of 

 the Auk's eggs are to be 

 found in many collections) 

 in collections in this country, 

 one in the Academy of Natu- 

 ral Sciences, Philadelphia, 

 and the other in the Nation- 

 al Museum, at Washington. 

 Through the kindness of Mr. 

 Witmer Stone, of the Acad- 

 emy of Natural Sciences, we 

 are enabled to show a full- 

 sized reproduction from a 

 photograph of the egg in their 

 collection. 



From ""Amoiijr the Water Fowl." Photohy 



CORNER OF BIRD ROCK. 



Showing Murrcs luppcri. PulHiis imiddlc) 

 billed Auks i lower). 



II. k-..Tol). 

 and Razor- 



34. Dovekie. A lie (tile. 



Range.— Coasts and islands of the North Atlantic and East Arctic oceans, 

 breeding in the Arctic regions and wintering as far south as the Middle States. 



The little Dovekie or Sea Dove is the 

 smallest member of the family, being 

 only 8 inches in length, and is the only 

 member of the sub-family (allinte.) The 

 form is very robust and the bill is short 

 ' and stout. In summer the plumage is 



^ black above; the throat and upper breast 



are sooty brown, and the under parts are 

 white, as are also the tips of the second- 

 aries and edges of the scapulars. They 



nest in large numbers on the Rockv cliffs 

 [Pale greenish blue. I ^^ j^j^^^^^^ ^^ ^^^ ^^^^ j^^^^^-^^ ^l^gi^. 



single pale greenish blue egg is placed in a crevice of the rocks. Size 1.80 x 1.25. 

 Data.— Greenland, June 8, 1893. Single egg laid in a crevice of a sea cliff. 





