BRUNNICH^S MURRE. 



QJ 



(^ HIS species, which inhabits the 

 coasts and islands of the north 

 Atlantic and eastern Arctic 

 ocean, and the Atlantic coast 

 south to New Jersey, has the same 

 general habits as the common Murre, 

 which, like all the Auks, Murres and. 

 Puffins, is eminently gregarious, es- 

 pecially in the breeding season. Davie 

 says that tens of thousands of these 

 birds congregate to make their nests 

 on the rocky islands, laying single 

 ey-ofs near one another on the shelves 

 of the cliffs. The birds sit side by 

 side, and although crowded together 

 never make the least attempt to quarrel. 

 Clouds of birds may be seen circling in 

 the air over some huge, rugged bastion, 

 "forming a picture which would seem 

 to belong to the imaginary rather than 

 the realistic." They utter a syllable 

 which sounds exactly like murre. The 

 eggsare sonumerousasto have commer- 

 cial value, and they are noted for their 

 great variation in markings and ground 

 color. On the Farallones islands, 

 where the eggs were until recently col- 

 lected for market purposes, the Murres 

 nest chiefly in colonies, the largest 

 rookery covering a hillside and sur- 

 rounding cliffs at West End, and 

 being known as the Great Rookery. 

 To observe the egg-gatherers, says an 

 eye-witness, is most interesting. "As an 

 egger climbs his familiar trail toward 

 the birds a commotion becomes ap- 

 parent among the Murres. They 



jostle their neighbors about the uneven 

 rocks and now and then with open bills 

 utter a vain protest and crowd as far 

 as possible from the intruder without 

 deserting their eggs. But they do not 

 stay his progress and soon a pair, then 

 a group, and finally, as the fright 

 spreads, the whole vast rookery take 

 wing toward the ocean. In the dis- 

 tance, perhaps, we see, suspended over 

 a cliff by a slender rope, an egger 

 gathering the eggs from along the 

 narrow shelves of rock, seeming in- 

 different to the danger of the work." 

 All this is now changed, the authori- 

 ties having intervened to prevent the 

 wholesale destruction of the eggs. The 

 Western Gull, however, is another 

 enemy of the Murre (the California 

 species;) it carries off and devours both 

 eggs and young. Mr. Bryant says the 

 Gull picks up a Murre's ^^^ bodily and 

 carries it away in his capacious mouth, 

 but does not stick his bill intoi t to get 

 hold, as is stated by some writers, 

 whose observations must have referred 

 to the eggs already broken by the 

 Gulls or eggers. 



The eggs of Brunnich's Murre can- 

 not be distinguished from those of the 

 common species. They show a wonder- 

 ful diversity of color, varying from 

 white to bluish or dark emerald-green. 

 Occasionally unmarked specimens are 

 found, but they are usually handsomely 

 spotted, blotched, and lined in patterns of 

 lilac, brown,and black over the surface. 



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