128 
This is one of the most difficult places 
for collecting on the island, and ropes are 
made fast to enable the hardy Greeks to 
reach the more inaccessible places. 
Two ot the eggers have lost their lives 
on this rock. One of them fell into the 
sea and his body was never found. 
He had unwisely put too many eggs in- 
to his shirt, and while crossing a narrow 
shelf the eggs actually crowded him off. 
Other accidents of minor importance oc- 
cur frequently. 
One egger who had some ten dozen eg- 
gs in his shirt fell and rolled about twenty 
feet. He was uninjured, but egg soaked. 
The Great Arch, a wonder of the island, 
forming a natural bridge where the surf 
churns in from the sea beiow, is fairly cov- 
ered with murres, and even far down on 
the dizzy sides of the chasm they find a 
place for their eggs on the shelving rocks. 
Here, where it would s2em to be suicide 
to follow them, the adventurous eggers 
risk their necks to gather hundreds of 
dozens of eggs. 
The collecting outfit of the egger is sim- 
ple. A cotton flour sack is made into an 
“‘eoo shirt’? by cutting out a hole in the 
bottom for the head, and one on each _ side 
for the armholes; a gathering string about 
the mouth of the sack permits it to be dr- 
awn tightly about the waist, while a slit 
down the shirt in front makes an opening 
for stowing away the eggs. A little of 
the coarse Farallone weed. the only veget- 
ation to be found on the island, is used for 
ashirtlining. It is astonishing how many 
ot the large eggs canbe carried in such, 
a shirt, eighteen to twenty dozen being 
considered a fair load for each man. 
When an egg shirt is filled it is emptied 
into a basket to be taken to the Janding. 
If overtaken by night the eggers dump 
the eggs into a pile, sometimes containing 
one thousand dozen, until the next day. 
The eggers are themselves half pirates, 
trespassing on Uncle Sam’s islands, and 
THE OREGON NATURALIST. 
the United States authorities have, ona 
number of occasions, forcibly removed 
them, only to have them return at the first 
opportunity. One year the eggers secret- 
ed themselves in the great Murre Cave, 
while the revenue cutter Corwin hovered 
about the island for hours. The men live 
in caves, or in tents made of old sails and 
spars,and with a plenteous supply of mac- 
aroni and sour wing, they are a contented 
and jolly crew. Of course,they may have 
eggsin any style, and fish are plentiful. 
Besides, though the island has no trees 
and hardly any vegetation, it fairly swar- 
ms with rabbits. Amoug them are many 
beautiful silk-haired ones, said to havebeen 
placed there by the Russians, many years 
ago during thier intrenchment on the 
mainland. 
San Francisco Examiner. 
ABOUT THEN. O7 Ay 
As the time of meeting of the North- 
Western Ornithological Association draws 
near, bird students of the North-west are 
manifesting their interest in the associa- 
tion. Several veteran ornithologist have 
made themselves known to the association 
since organizing, and it is expected that 
the researches of the N O.A. will be given 
a new impetus the coming year. 
The annual meeting to be held next De- 
cember will be the largest and most inter- 
esting of anything of the kind ever held in 
the Northwest. Besides the reports of the 
officers and regular business of the associ- 
ation, there will be a number of scientific 
papers read. 
Considering that this is the first year of 
its existence, and that few of the members 
have been extensive field collectors, the 
association has accomplished a great work. 
All of the available material for a list of 
Oregon birds, has been collected and will 
be ready for publication next month. 
This list will not be complete, but will 
