174 LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN DIVING BIRDS 



In 1861 Verrill found murres breeding in large numbers at the eastern end 

 of Anticosti; but we saw none there, although razor-billed auks were numerous 

 at Wreck Bay. 



In 1884 Mr. M. Abbott Frazar (1887) spent the summer in the 

 vicinity of Cape Whittle on this coast and reported the murre as 

 "very common, but rapidly diminishing." Doctor Townsend and I 

 made a 250-mile trip along the south coast of Labrador in 1909, cruis- 

 ing much of the time in a small boat among the islands, but we saw 

 only nine murres, although we were constantly on the lookout for 

 them. All the men with whom we talked, along the coast as far 

 east as Natashquan, told us that no murres bred there now. At Par- 

 roquet Island we did not even see any. The nine birds which we 

 saw near Agwanus may have been migrants or stragglers from Bird 

 Rock. Farther east, near Cape Whittle, a few colonies still remain; 

 Doctor Charles W. Townsend in his explorations along this coast in 

 1915 found two breeding colonies of about a thousand pairs each. 



On the north coast of Labrador the story is similar; where the 

 murre was once common or abundant it is now very rare or has en- 

 tirely disappeared. Mr. H. B. Bigelow (1902), writing of his trip 

 to this coast in 1900, says: 



We found the murres fairly common to Hamilton Inlet, north of which we 

 saw very few. A large colony was reported to us, however, at Eclipse Harbor. 

 Probably no bird has suffered more from the depredations of the eggers than 

 this, which is in merely a remnant of its former numbers. 



Doctors Townsend and Allen (1907) reported that in 1906 they 

 "saw but very few murres on the Labrador coast, namely, 1 near 

 Hawkes Harbor on July 16 and 10 near Indian Tickle on July 17." 

 On my two-months' trip "down" the coast in 1912 I saw only one 

 murre north of the Straits of Belle Isle and found no evidence of 

 recent breeding colonies; there were some eggs in Reverend W. W. 

 Perretts's collection taken many years ago near Nain. 



I saw no signs of murre colonies on the west or north coasts of 

 Newfoundland, but was told that they were still to be found on the 

 south coast. 



Courtship. Audubon (1840) has given us the following account 

 of the courtship of the murre: 



The guillemots pair during their migrations many of them at least do so. 

 While on my way toward Labrador they were constantly within sight, gam- 

 bolling over the surface of the water, the males courting the females, and the 

 latter receiving the caresses of their mates. These would at times rise erect 

 in the sea, swell their throats, and emit a hoarse puffing guttural note, to 

 which the females at once responded, with numerous noddings to their beaux. 

 Then the pair would rise, take a round in the air, re-alight, and seal the con- 

 jugal compact; after which they flew or swam together for the season, and so 

 closely that among multitudes on the wing or on the waves one might easily 

 distinguish a mated pair. 



