^°i89o'"'] PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. 251 



couseqiu'iitly unable to (ly. The stomachs examined coutaiueil remains 

 of lisb, Crustacea, stones and small sbell-fisb. lu one case, that of a 

 young bird of the year at Miugaii, all these were found. 



4. Uria troile (Linn.). Murre. 



Still very numerous at the Bird Eocks, but much less so at other 

 places visited. The bird is very much persecuted by fishermen, uoth 

 for its eggs and flesh. At the time of our visit to the smallest Bird 

 Rock we found three fishermen in possession, who, with an ancient 

 shotgun, had obtained quite a pile of the breeding birds, together with 

 a few razorbills, which were destined to vary the monotony of a fish 

 and salt-meat diet. Continual persecution has the eftect of causing 

 the murres to lay their eggs in the most inaccessible places, and it was 

 only with difficulty that a few eggs and young were obtained. 



I will here call attention to the manner in which these birds are 

 mounted for our museums, and indeed, also to the pictures of this and 

 allied species. But few show any approach whatever to the natural 

 .attitude. There is entirely too much of the robin or crow about them 

 and too little of the distinctly specific and characteristic attitude of 

 diving birds. The commonest mistake seems to be mounting the bird 

 sitting on its tail, uine-tentlis of mounted birds and illustrations show- 

 ing this fault. As a matter of fact, the*Tbirds rest entirely on the 

 tarsus, even walking in this position ; but when hurried raise up on their 

 toes and move very quickly. When resting or walking on the tarsus 

 the tail is elevated above the ground so that one may almost pass the 

 open hand between ; the thighs are very full and pronounced, and the 

 feet trend inwards. Another fault is in making the neck and breast 

 entirely too large. In the many specimens I examined the upper part otf 

 the breastbone showed very prominently, and the head and neck were 

 very small. This bird feeds almost exclusively on fish, especially such 

 species as the lant and capelin, which they capture under water, using 

 their wings to propel themselves. We had a good opportunity of 

 witnessing this, having captured a murre alive and placed it in the 

 well of the Grampus, where it proved of the greatest interest to all. 



At first it was very wild, but in a few days it would take food from 

 our hands and follow one about. Upon dropping some food in the 

 water it would instantly dive and quickly seize and swallow it, then 

 swim around the well as if searching for an exit, and suddenly rise to 

 the surface. Its motions under ^\ater were very rapid and the move- 

 ments of the wings similar to those of flight, except that the wings 

 were never outstretched, the muscular eifort being confined to the 

 humerus and ulna. I brought the bird to Washington, where it lived 

 for several weeks in the basin in the rotunda of the National Museum 

 and attracted considerable attention by its odd and peculiar ways. 



