20 CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 



treme example of the series ( ? ad., Monterey, CaL, 

 July 28, 1894) the inner edges of the primaries are broadly 

 margined with it, when the wing is closed forming a patch, 

 partially concealed by the under coverts, one and a fourth 

 by one and a half inches in diameter. An equally large 

 white area occurs on the under coverts near the edge of 

 the wing somewhat over an inch below the carpal joint. 



Uria troile californica. California Murre. — The 

 facies of the bird life of the bay and ocean was contin- 

 ually undergoing change. Species would be present in 

 force and afterward almost entirely absent for a while, 

 shifting their quarters as the inhabitants of the woodland 

 are wont to do from day to day in winter. There were, 

 also, extensive movements up and down the coast. Some 

 of these perhaps had more than local significance. The 

 flights of Marbled Murrelets and Rhinoceros Auklets 

 previously alluded to may have been tardy migration from 

 stormy seas to the northward, followed a little later by a 

 return movement; such migration being like that of the 

 Horned Larks and Longspurs with the advance and re- 

 treat of the snow. The passages of the California Murres 

 were especially interesting, for they furnished additional 

 proof that the movements witnessed in June and July 

 were truly migratory ones. Some days large wedge-shaped 

 flocks, in frequent succession, would be passing down the 

 coast, in the same manner as south-bound migrants, on 

 other days the majority would be heading northward, or, 

 more rarely, as many would go in one direction as the 

 opposite. In summer, however, the path of flight in- 

 variably led to the south. 



On the afternoon of January nth quite a number of 

 Murres were having a clamorous concert several miles 

 out on the ocean. As the sea was like glass and the air 

 as balmy as a warm summer's da}', it may have been that 

 the nuptial passion was temporarily aroused. 



