ZOOLOGY. 139 



back. The meat of the latter has not so fine a flavor as in the 

 Eastern states, probably because it does not here find the wild 

 celery uj^on which it feeds along the streams of the middle 

 states. 



Many of the geese and ducks pass the winter in Califoruia, 

 where they find an abundance of food in the grain-fields and 

 tules. 



The murre, or foolish guillemot ( Zfria ringvin), is similar to 

 the gulls, seventeen inches long, dark-brown above and white 

 beneath, with transverse stripes of ashy-brown on its sides. Its 

 throat is brown in sunmier and white in winter. It frequents 

 the islands along the coast, and lays its eggs there on the bare 

 ground or rocks. These eggs are wonderfully irregular in 

 form, size, and color, but are generally about three and a half 

 inches long, sea-green in color, with dark-brown spots of angu- 

 lar shapes on them. Quantities of these eggs are obtained ev- 

 ery year at the Farallones, and are sold in the San Francisco 

 market at about half the price of hen's eggs per dozen, or, if 

 taken by weight, at one-fourth. Their taste, however, is rank, 

 and they are not used by those who can afibrd to buy the 

 hen's eggs. 



Dr. Heermanu says : " At one o'clock every day during the 

 iigg season, Sundays and Thursdays excepted (this is to give 

 the birds some little respite), the egg-hunters meet on the 

 south side of the island. The roll is called, to see that all are 

 present, that each one may have an equal chance in gathering 

 the spoil. The signal is given, every man starting off at a full 

 run for the most productive egging-grounds. The gulls [Larus 

 occide7itaUs, Western gull), understanding, apparently, what is 

 about to occur, are on the alert, hovering overhead, and await- 

 ing only the advance of the party. The men rush eagerly into 

 the rookeries ; the aff'righted murres have scarcely risen from 

 their nests, before the gull, with remarkable instinct, not to 

 say almost reason, flying but a few paces ahead of the hunter, 

 alights on the ground, tapping such eggs as the short time 

 will allow, before the egger comes up with him. The broken 



