NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS EGGS. 



21 



foundland, marks the place of 

 their disappearance from our 

 shorrs. There are about sev- 

 enty known specimens of the 

 bin! preserved, and about the 

 same number of eggs. The 

 immediate cause of the ex- 

 tinction of these birds was 

 their destruction for food by 

 fishermen and immigrants, 

 ami later for the use of their 

 feathers commercially^ The 

 single egg that they laid was 

 about 5.00 x 3 inches, the 

 ground color was huffy white, 

 and the spots brownish and 

 blackish. The markings var- 

 ied in endless pattern as do 

 those of the smaller Auk. 

 Tli.-rc are but two real eggs 

 \ plaster casts in imitation of 

 the Auk's eggs are to be 

 found in many collections) 

 in collections hi this country, 

 one in the Academy of Natu- 

 ral Sciences, Philadelphia, 

 and the other in the Nation- 

 al Museum, at Washington. 

 Through the kindness of Mr. 

 Witmer Stone, of the Acad- 

 emy of Natural Sciences, we 

 are' enabled to show a full- 

 si /in! reproduction from a 

 photograph of the egg in their 

 collection. 



34. Dovekie. Mir till<: 



Range. Coasts and islands of the North Atlantic and East Arctic oceans, 



Itreeding in the Arctic regions and wintering as far south as the Middle States. 



The little Dovekie or Sea Dove is the 

 smallest member of the family, being 

 only 8 inches in length, and is the only 

 member of the sub-family (allinaM The 

 form is very robust and the bill is short 

 and stout. In summer the plumage is 

 black above; the throat and upper breast 

 are sooty brown, and the under parts arc 

 white, as are also the tips of the second- 



_^^^^__ aries and edges of the scapulars. They 



nest in large numbers on the Rocky cliffs 

 of islands in the East Arctic. ' Their 



single pale greenish blue egg is placed in a crevice of the rocks. Size 1.80 x 1.25. 



Data. Greenland, June 8, 1893. Single egg laid in a crevice of a sea cliff. 



From "Among the Water Fowl." Photohy II. K..I>h. 

 <'<>KNKK OF I',IK1> ROCK. 



Showing Murres (upper), Pullins i middle) and Razor- 

 billed Auk- (lower . 



