MURRES 35 



shape of the egg prevents it from being readily rolled away to 

 destruction, for a gust of wind or accidental shove results 

 simply in the egg turning around on its axis. An egg from 

 Baccalien Island, Newfoundland, taken July 3, 1897, measures 

 3.20 X 2.06, another from the same place 3.50 x 2.05, while a 

 third is 3.17x2.14, and all these were laid on the bare rock 

 on a cliff. The ground color of the eggs is remarkably vari- 

 able, being white, light blue, dark blue, emerald green and 

 intergrading colors, while they are either spotted, blotched, 

 wreathed about the larger end, lined, marked or hieroglyphed 

 with lilac, brown, umber, red, sepia and black to a wonderfully 

 various degree of style and combination of effect, while very 

 rarely some are unmarked. The birds sit crowded together 

 on the cliffs by hundreds, each holding its egg between its 

 thighs according to those who have seen them. 



31. Uria lomvia (Linn.). Brunnich's Murre. 



Plumage in summer adults : top of head and hind-neck sooty black, othe r- 

 wise in plumage very similar to that of the Murre previously described. 

 Adult and immature winter plumage similar to that of the Murre, except for 

 difference in color of top of head and neck. Wing 7.60 to 8.50 ; culmen 2.00 ; 

 tarsus 1.40 ; depth of bill at angle 0.55. 



Geog. Dist. — Coast and islands of the north Atlantic and adjoining por- 

 tions of the Arctic Ocean, breeding from the Gulf of St. Lawrence northward ; 

 formerly said to have bred on Grand Menan ; in winter ranging southward 

 to the Great Lakes and the coast of New Jersey. 



County Records. — Cumberland ; not uncommon winter visitant, (Brown, 

 C. B. P. p. 36) ; two found dead in Bridgton and Otisfield respectively, 

 (Mead). Hancock; regular winter visitor to the outer islands, (Knight). 

 Knox; winter visitor, (Rackliff). Oxford; one shot at Norway Lake late in 

 the fall of 1895, (Nash). Penobscot; have known of two being taken, 

 (Knight). Piscataquis; one taken at Sebec Lake, Nov. 23, 1899, is in the 

 collection of Sanford Ritchie, (Ritchie in letter). Sagadahoc ; common in 

 winter, (Spinney) . Somerset ; one found dead on the ice near Pittsfield, 

 Dec. 31, 1896, (Morrell). Waldo; occasional in winter, (Knight). Washing- 

 ton ; (Boardman). 



Of general occurrence along the coast, especially among the 

 outer islands from November through March, and occasionally 

 taken inland during the same season after severe storms. The 



