WATER BIRDS. 43 



Family 3. ALCID^E. — Auks and Murres. 



KEY TO SPECIES. 



A. Wing more than 7 inches. — B, BB. 



B. Gonys less than 1 inch (av. .83). — Briinnich's Murre. No. 6. 



BB. Gonys more than 1 inch (av. 1.14). — Common Murre (Appendix). 

 AA. Wins less than 6 inches. — Little Auk. No. 7. 



6. Brunnich's Murre. Uria lomvia lomvia (Linn.). (31) 



Synonyms: Thick-billed Murre, Thick-billed Guillemot, Briirmich's Guillemot. — 

 Alca lomvia, Linn., 1758.— Uria lomvia, Bryant, 1861, A. O. U. Checklist, 1895. 



Plate II. 



A sea-bird of odd appearance with short legs, webbed feet with only three 

 toes, and thick, soft, duck-like plumage, slate above and white below. 



Distribution.— Coasts and islands of north Atlantic and eastern Arctic 

 Oceans; south (in winter) to the lakes of northern New York and the coast 

 of New Jersey. Breeding from the Gulf of St. Lawrence northward. 



This straggler from the north was first recorded from Michigan by the 

 writer (Auk, XII, 387, Oct., 1895), the occasion being the capture of a 

 specimen in a dying condition at Green- 

 ville, Montcalm county, December 13, 

 1894. The specimen was brought alive 

 to the late Percy Selous, who made a water- 

 color sketch of the bird and sent it to us 

 for identification. Subsequently Mr. 

 Selous presented the nicely mounted speci- Fig. 5. Foot of Bnmnidrs Murre. 

 men to the Agricultural College, and it is (Original.) 



now in our museum. Specimens are frequently taken in the fall and winter 

 along the Atlantic coast as far south as New York, and they have been 

 recorded occasionally from inland lakes many miles from salt water. They 

 occurred in large numbers at Quebec, Canada, from November 15, 1893, to 

 January 8, 1894, (Auk, Vol. XI, 175), but the above specimen, so far as 

 known, is the first to be recorded from any part of the Great Lake region. 

 No other specimen was taken during the winter of 1894-95 so far as we can 

 learn, but in December, 1896, a remarkable flight of these birds occurred 

 on lakes Ontario and Erie, and many specimens were taken in Michigan, 

 Ohio, Indiana and Ontario. Probably a score or more were taken in 

 Michigan waters, but the following are the only ones of which we have record : 

 One taken on Detroit River December 19, 1896, now in the high school 

 collection at Sault Ste. Marie; one adult male shot from a flock near 

 Gibraltcr, Wayne county, Michigan, December 26, 1896, originally recorded 

 as Uria troile (Bull. M. O. C. I., p. 10); this specimen now in the museum 

 of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; two specimens killed at St. 

 Clair Flats, and first recorded by W. A. Davidson as "Black Guillemots" 

 (Bull. M. 0. C. I., p. 8 and Ibid. I, 24); in addition to these Mr. Swales 

 states that there are mounted birds at Ecorse and Trenton, Michigan, 

 taken in December, 1896. lie also states that during this flight "Some 



