

ALCID.K — THE AUKS - URIA. 



485 



oil St. (ircorgo's. Thoy iiro gcncniUy scattered, by ones, twos, and threes, among 

 tlnmsands and tens of thousands of the (u-ro. 



The following extracts from a letter written by Dr. W. O. Ayres are interesting 

 as showing the early history of the traffic in the eggs of this species. It is dated 

 San Francisco, Oct. 13, 1854 : The " Farallones de los Frayles " are a group of small 

 islands lying a little over twenty nules west of the entrance to the Bay of San Fran- 

 cisco. They an* almost inaccessible, entirely uninhabited — with a single exception 

 — and afford therefore very naturally a resort for great multitudes of birds. Some 

 time since, a company was organized in this city for the purpose of bringing the 

 I'ggs (jf these birds to market. An imperfect idea of the number of the birds may bo 

 formed from tlu; fact that this comi)any sold here during the last season — a period 

 of less than two months, in June, Jvdy, and August — more than five hundred thou- 

 sand eggs ; that all these were gathered on a single one of the islands ; and that in 

 the opinion of the cggers, not more than one egg in six of those deposited on that 

 island was gathered. The eggs were gathered in only one limited portion of the 

 island known as the Great Farallon, called the Rookery, in which one species of bird 

 they called the Murrc swarmed in myriads, there being no other species among them. 

 The eggs vary to a greater degree than I have known in any other instance. 



A(!companying this letter are outlines of seven eggs (two of them evidently those 

 of Ci-jijthus columhii) and the measurements of twelve others. The broadest measures 

 3.00 by 2.23 inches, while two others measure, one 3.GG by 1.87, and the other 3.()4 

 by 1.77. One very pointed egg measures .'{.43 by 1.81 inches. The least length is 

 3.07 inches. The ground-(!olor of this egg is usually a pure white ; but quite fre- 

 (piently a bluish-white, greenish-white, cream-white, buffy white, blue, green, dilute 

 rufous, etc., constitute the ground. The markings are c()nd)inations of subdued lav- 

 ender, pale brown, and deep brownish black. In some these are sparse ; others are 

 thickly covered by them. 



Uria lomvia. 



a. Lomvia. BBttNNICH'S OTJILLEHOT. 



Alca lomvin, Linn. S. N. od. 10, I. 1758, 130, no. 4. 



Cdliirndcs lomvia, IJuvant, Pr. Hoston Soe. 1861, 9, figs. 1, 4. 



Uria svarhag, Bkunn. Oni. Hor. 17l!4, 27, no. 110 (winter j)].). 



Liimvia svarbny, Coiti:s, I'r. Ac. Nat. Sci. Philad, 1868, 80. 



Uria nrilnnichii, .S.UiiXF,, Trans. Linn. Soc. XIL 1818. 538. — .Sw. .t llrcii. F. H. A. 11. 18:!1, 477. 



NiTTT. Man.IL 1834, 529. — Ooi'i.n, B. Eur. V. 1837, pi. 398. —Aun. Orn. IJiog. 111. 183.'>, 



336, pi. 345 ; 15. Am. oct. ed. VIL 1844, pi. 472. 

 Lomvia arra Brilnnichi, Hinow. Xoni. X. Am. B. 1881, no. 764 «. 

 Uria arra, Cass, in B.aird's B. N. Am. 1858, 914 (not of Pall. 1826). — 'Baiui), B. N. Am. 1859, 



no. 731. 

 lAimvi-i arra, (pt.) Coues, Key, 1872, 346 ; 2d Check List, 1882, no. 876. 



Uria Frnnccsii, Leach, Tran.s. Linn. Soc. XIL 1818, 588. — Dk Kav, N. Y. Zool. Birds, 1844, 280. 

 Uriapolaris, Bkeiim, Handb. Vog. Dcutschl. 1831, 984. 



b. Arra. THE THICK-BILLED GITILLEMOT. 



Ci'pphus arra. Pall. Zoog. Kosso-As. IL 1826, 347. 



Uria arra, Cass. Pr. Pliilad. Acad. 1864, 324. 



Lomvia arra, CouEs, Key, 1872, 346 (part); Klliott's Alaska, 1875, 211 ; 2d Check List, 1882, no. 



876 (part). — RiDow. Nom. N. Am. B. 1881, no. 764. 

 Uria Brilnnichii, of authors referring to the Tliick-billcd Guillemot of the North Pacific. 



Hah. Coasts and islands of the North Atlantic, Arctic, and Pacific oceans ; on the Atlantic 

 ci'iist of North America, soutli in winter to New Jer.'sey, breeding from the Gulf of St. Lawrence 



ill,.,r 



