ll'inl-Liji hi Tjihntdor. \)\) 



these birds breed exclusively. They lay usually three eggs in 

 some exposed situation, or in the cleft of some rock, making 

 no nest, and seem to let the sun do the greater share of the 

 hatching ; they are oblong and ovoid in shape, tapering sud- 

 denly, the ground color being from greenish to pure white, 

 and the varied streaks and blotches or spots scattered more or 

 less thickly all over their surface, especially so in a concentric 

 ring around tb.e tip of the (^^y!:,, are of bhu'k or various shades 

 of brown. Nearly all the birds of this family have what are 

 apjKirently j)urplish spots uj)on their eggs, but these are black 

 primarily and a|)pear purple only from a slight covering of 

 the white lime (tf the shell itself. If the lime be scraj)ed away 

 the spots will show up black. 



COMMON or FOOLISH GUILLEMOT MURRE 



LoiiirUi froi/c. — (L.) ])I!])T. 



i>EF<)i!E reading the ])resent remarks upon this species one 

 should comjiare the notes as given upon its congener the razor- 

 billed auk. The e^g is noted for its variable size and the 

 nature of its markings. 1 have taken them all the May from 

 ])ure white, though an endless series of blotches, and waved 

 lines of l)lack, purple, and brown, to almost pure green and 

 oven a delicate pink barely spotted or marked at the larger 

 end. The ])eople on the coast cannot tell whether either the 

 turre or murre lays more than a single egg, or whether they 

 sit u|)on their eggs or allow the sun to hatch them. 1 have 

 been told, on ap])arently good authority, that they do sit 

 u|)on their eggs, and conscipiently are furnished with a large, 

 bare place upon the lower belly, wdiere they have picked the 

 feathers from themselves in order to make the ]>roj)er hollow 

 in their downy covering for the egg to rest in ; but I failed to 

 notice the spot upon any of the birds shot. 1 could not ascer- 

 tain, either, the period of incubation. AVhile laying to, one 

 morning, off the Fox Islands, near the ISIecattina Islands, sev- 

 eral of us landed and filled our pails with murres' eggs, while 



