484 



THE DIVING Binn.S — PVOOPODES. 





supply, as they art; too far to lie «'ii.sily rciu-hcd. iiiid the birds nrv coiiMCfiuciitly froo 

 from being wantonly and unnecessarily disturlted. They begin to lay from the 17tli 

 to the ii7th of Mny — so Dr. CooiM-r was informed by Mr. Taski-r, of tlie lighthouse — 

 and eggs can be found as late as August, since the many robberies to which the; 

 birds are subjected oblige tln-m to lay several times. As the eggs are laid on the 

 bare rock, and often on narrow ledges which are sloping and slippery, then! ar»! also 

 nunu-rous chances of breakage ; and the birds have many enemies besides man, so that 

 Nature has provided them witli tin- ability to lay many successive times in order tliat 

 some, at htast, of the eggs may 1h' hatched. Yet as each female lays but one egg at 

 a time, and .as the birds are robU'd of many thousands, the wonder is that so many 

 birds are successf\dly raised as must be in oider to form tlu! enormous Hoeks that 

 are still seen together. I'robably if they were scattered over a more extensive sur- 

 face, or along the whole coast, their niindtcrs would not seem so great. Even now, 

 the oldest eggers begin to sec a diminution in the inimbers ; and jjrobably as the old 

 birds die off there will be much fewer raised to sujiply their places. There i.s, how- 

 ever, one fact in their favor; namely, that the market value of their eggs has decreased 

 so mucdi with the increase in the product of eggs of the domestic Hen, tiiat they are 

 now worth little more than one third of the price of the latter; and consi'cpiently the 

 giithering of them is no longer i>rofitable after they begin to be a little scarce. This 

 oc(!urs about the first of Jidy, or after the gathering season has lasted about six wetiks ; 

 and the birds are then left to themselves. The ukkIc of gathering the eggs is as fol- 

 lows : The island is divided into two parts, and each is hunted over every other day. 

 After noon, the eggers having previously broken every egg tla^y can find, so as to 

 secure freshness for the next lot, start out with large baskets, which they leave at con- 

 venient points. The men then scatter, and collect the eggs from the ledges, carrying 

 them down in a bag suspended in frint, from which they are transferred to the ba.s- 

 kets ; and when these are full, a covering of dry seaweed is put over them to protect 

 them from the Gulls, and the}- are carried to the storehouse, and thence shipped to 

 San Francisco. 



On the approach of the men the Murrcs reluctantly flutter off, and often drag 

 with them the precious eggs, which are dashed to pieces on the rocks, while the 

 birds fiy to some distant point on the rocks or the water, making only a faint croak- 

 ing sound, the only note with which the3- schmu to be gifted. At this time the Gulls, 

 which have been following the eggers with loud screams, watching their opportunity, 

 sometimes seize an egg by .sticking their open bill into it, and fiy off to eat its eon- 

 tents at their leisure. Dr. Heennann relates an instan(H! in which two Gulls made 

 a feint of attacking the Murre in front, while another stole up behind and seized the 

 egg, when the three flew off together to devour it. 



Specimens of the eggs of this Murre from the Farallones show, according to 

 Dr. Cooper, the following differences : The ground-color is white, greenish, blue- 

 green, sea-green, yellowish, or cinnamon, and they are either unspotted, or blotched, 

 speckled, or variously streaked with diffennit shades of brown or black. They mea.s- 

 ure generally from 3.30 to 3.53 inches in length, by from 1.90 to 2.05 in width. Occa- 

 sionally very small ones — which are possibly alwrtive — measure only 2.05 by 1.45 

 inches. 



Limited numbers of this species were found by ^fr. H. W. Elliott on the Prybilof 

 Islands, perched on the cliffs with the " Arrie," the two resembling each other so 

 closely, and being so much alike in their habits, that it requires a practised eye to 

 distinguish them, mdess the observer is very near. The largest gathering of these 

 birds seen at any jdace on these islands wius a flock of about fifty, at the high bluffs 



