THE CALIFORNIA MURRE. 



933 



Apropos of this indifference ti> sanitatinn, may lie nientinneil the birds' 

 preference for Wdiite-crested Cormorants, a fa\orabl)' situated nest of the 

 latter being ahnost sure to attract a small group of nesting Murres to its 

 immediate vicinity. What compensating advantage this arrangement may 

 afford them we do not know, for they are certainly doomed therein to a dismal 

 martyrdom as targets for the Shag's impartial distribution of whitewash. 

 Moreover, a hobbledehov cormnrant is likely to become very much excited 

 over the advent of a bird-man ; whereupon, clamorous of escajje, he goes 

 stravaging over these mild-mannered satellites with exquisite ruthlessness, 

 I liave seen a group of Murres bowled over in this fashion like ten-pins, not 

 once but tliree times, after wliicJi tlie birds chiefly aggrie\c(l nianagetl to 

 extricate themselves from the 

 tangle and made oft' grumbling 



[Nlurre chicks are not pro- 

 vided with abundant down, like 

 baby Puffins, or even Guille- 

 mots. They are scant il\' sup- 

 plied, instead, with a stubljy 

 sort of down, white below, and 

 black \-aried b\' a sprinkling of 

 stout white hairs abo\-e. — all 

 very short. They are there- 

 fore shivery little things, and 

 recjuire constant brooding. It 

 is on this account that the 

 anxious parents \-enture back, 

 singly and b}- groups, as soon 

 as the armed terror I)egins to 

 retire. In preparing to alight, 

 the bird's body is brought into 

 a vertical position, the feet are 

 extended to the utmost to act 



as brakes, and the head is thrust forward as much as possible to guide these 

 operations, which are imperfectly correlated at best. Occasionally, a bird 

 fails to effect a landing with ease, or at least fears failure, whereupon it turns 

 instantly and glides downward upon extended wing preparatory to a new trial. 

 As we linallv withdraw and the timorous ones come back, there is a fer- 

 ment of readjustment on the ledge. Lost chicks ]jipe shrill in(|uiry of every 

 bustling matron, and if mistaken, are received with spiteful jabs from bills 

 as sharp as thorns. When, after much adversity, the right mother is foun<l, 

 the chick is promptly thrust between her legs, where the accommodations 

 seem ridiculously inaderpiate. 



Tiikcn in Seattle 



Photo by the Author. 



OUR FRIE.XD FROJI SITK.V. 



