14 WATER BIRDS 
Breeding Range: From Farallones to Alaska. 
Breeding Season ; Approximately, May to August. 
Nest: A bare ftat place on cliffs, no lining, no protection. 
Eggs: 1; pear-shaped ; varying from white to buffy, amber, and pale 
green. May be either unmarked or streaked with brown. In size 
they vary from 3.50 XK 1.90 to 2.05 X 1.45. 
THE great Murre rookery of the California coast is 
on the Farallone Islands; until the last few years 
their eggs were a common product in the markets of 
San Francisco. According to figures furnished by Mr. 
Leverett M. Loomis, the collection of Murre’s eggs at 
the Farallones in 1896 amounted to 7,645 dozen, all 
of these being shipped to California markets. Mr. 
Loomis also says: “In 1885 three hundred thousand 
eggs were gathered. The market became glutted, one 
cargo being dumped into San Francisco Bay and another 
abandoned on the island.” According to another au- 
thority, five hundred thousand eggs were sold in less 
than two months, — all collected in one limited portion 
of South Farallone Island, and, “in the opinion of the 
eggers, not more than one egg in six was gathered.” 
Fortunately the Government has now forbidden the 
collection of eggs and the molesting of the birds on 
any portion of these islands, and no one is allowed to 
land except by permission of the Government Light 
House Inspector. 
Besides being robbed by human enemies, the unfor- 
tunate Murres have to wage continual war against the 
Western gulls, who steal their eggs the moment their 
backs are turned, or even snatch them from under the 
mother bird. Possibly for this reason they often choose 
