32 CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OP SCIENCES. 



When on the wing the murre sometimes makes a peculiar 

 grunting sound; on the rocks they are very noisy, bowing 

 their heads continually. They are much more clamorous 

 and make greater demonstrations when they are joined by 

 others, and like all the island sea fowls, are more so before 

 a storm. 



Distributed over the entire island and also the isolated 

 rocks, and North and Middle Farallones, but in places much 

 more abundant than in others; these densely populated 

 rookeries are the ones worked by the eggers, who, during 

 three months of the year, send the eggs of the murre and 

 western gull to the San Francisco market, where they find a 

 sale at from twelve to twenty cents a dozen. 



Between 1850 and 1856 there was reported to have been 

 brought to San Francisco between three and four millions 

 of eggs. For the last few years the number of eggs mar- 

 keted has averaged from one hundred and eighty thousand 

 to two hundred and twenty-eight thousand. In 1886, two 

 men who were left on Sugar Loaf collected one hundred 

 and eight thousand eggs. 



The South Farallon being the principal island, and the 

 only one inhabited, is the one from which, with neighbor- 

 ing islets, the entire egg crop is harvested — most of the 

 eggs coming from the Great Eookery at West End. The 

 bitsiness is carried on by twelve to fifteen men , who inspect 

 the rookeries occasionally to learn when the murres have 

 commenced laying, as the time varies with different seasons. 

 AVhen ready to begin picking, all the eggs that can Be 

 reached are broken, so as to insure only fresh ones being 

 taken, for the eggers maintain that an egg sat upon for ^a 

 day is unfit to market; the gulls willingly assist in this de- 

 stroying work. The entire main island, or rather those 

 parts of it which are picked, is gone over every other day. 

 In the forenoon of the first day they take the West End, 

 commencing with Main Top, going out Great Rookery and 

 to Indian Head, then across the flat to Murre Bridge. In 



