28 MEMOIRS OF THE NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB 



Saxby^ says: "Among certain families, the divers and guillemots, for example, 

 the extraordinary liability of certain individuals to retain the summer plumage 

 until winter, and of others to assume it many weeks before the accustomed time 

 in spring, has led, and still leads, to a vast amount of perplexity." 



[30] Uria troille troille (Linn.). Murre. — An authentic record for this bird in Essex 

 County is still to be made, notwithstanding the fact that it breeds farther south than does 

 Briinnich's Murre. The only authenticated breeding-place of the latter in the Gulf of St. 

 Lawrence at the present day is Bird Rock. Although the Murre breeds in various places 

 in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, at Gaspe, Bird Rock and southern Labrador, — the total number 

 of Murres to the north of us is much less than of Briinnich's Murre which breeds in count- 

 less numbers in Greenland, Baffin's Land, and elsewhere. 



8 [31] Uria lomvia lomvia (Linn.). 

 Brl'nnich's Murre; "Ice-bird." 



Not uncommon winter visitor. October 27 to March 14. 



On October 27, 1909, Mr. J. L. Peters saw over a hundred of these birds ofif 

 Plum Island ; four were in Plum Island Sound. This is an unusually large num- 

 ber of this species to be found together, and an unusually early date. Late Novem- 

 ber is the ordinary date of arrival, although Damsel- notes them for November 

 9, 1901. A single bird was seen by me ofif Rockport on March 14, 1909. Fleming^ 

 says there were unusually large migrations of these birds along the New England 

 coast in the winters of 1890-91, 1896-97, 1899-1900. and 1901-02. 



9 [32] Alca torda Linn. 

 Razor-billed Auk; "Tinker"; "Ice-bird." 



Not uncommon winter visitor. October 29 to March 6. 



The March 6 record is of a bird shot in 1909 at Swampscott by Dr. Charles 

 G. Mixter. The larger tail, which is apt to be cocked up when the bird is swim- 

 ming on the water, easily distinguishes this species from the Murre. In flight the 

 tail conceals the feet which are extended below it. In the Murre the feet are 

 extended beyond the diminutive tail and seem to take its place. 



[33] Plautus impennis (Linn.). Great Auk; "Penguin." — Long since extinct, but 

 formerly common on our shores. 



1 Saxby, Henry L. Birds of Shetland. Edinburgh, 1874, p. 300. 

 - Allen, G. M. " An Essex County Ornithologist." Auk, vol. 30, p. 19, 1913. 

 3 Fleming, J. H. "The Unusual Migration of Briinnich's Murre (Uria lomvia) in east- 

 ern North America." Proc. 4th Internal. Ornith. Congress, 1905, p. 528-543, 1906. 



