THE CALIFORNIA MURRE. 



931 



forwanl like a legless beggar, "snapping" momentarily. The strain of 

 approaching danger begins to tell on the Murrine nerve : but when the last 

 mother has fled, we have before us such a varied assortment nf eggs that 

 regret is lost in wonder. 



jNInrres' eggs are the Majolica ware of every bird-egg collection. In 

 ground color ^-arying from pure white and delicate grays to beryl green or 

 even sea green, they are speckled, splattered, blotched, and daubed with 

 bi"0\vns and blacks of a hundred shades. The more lightly marked specimens 



From a Pliotograph, Cof^yright . 1907, by II'. L. Dait'son. 



FIRI.N'G AT CLOSE R.\NGE. 



THE NORTHEAST MURRE COLONY, CARROLL ISLET. 



may ha\-e nothing b}- way of ornamentation be_\i)nd faint \-ermicuIations of 

 pale oil green and tawnv olive, or else tinv irruptions of sordid lavender and 

 Indian purple: but others mav be scrawled like a Blackbird's egg with purplish 

 blacks, or buried, like a Hawk's, in a smudge of chestnut rufous. 



It would appear highly probable that this variety is introduced by nature 

 to facilitate recognition on the part of the birds, whose property might other- 

 wise become hopelessly confused or lost. Certainly no two adjacent eggs are 

 exactiv alike, and the differences are usuallv so striking that a birdless ledge 



