38 BIRDS 



a syllable which sounds exactlj' like "murre," from which 

 they take their name. 



These birds have many natural enemies, among them the 

 various gulls, which have a habit of destroying the eggs 

 whenever the parents are forced to leave them. These 

 beautiful but thieving gulls actually carr}-^ these immense 

 eggs in their mouths, flj'ing to some remote part of the 

 island or rocks, where they puncture the shell and devour 

 the contents. In spite of enemies and in spite of the single 

 egg laid, like so many of the diving birds, they maintain 

 their numbers until killed off by man. 



DOVEKIE 



The Dovekie, commonly called Sea Dove or Little Auk, 

 is a little fellow with short bill and legs, inhabiting the 

 Atlantic Ocean from the Gulf of St. Lawrence northward. 

 Dovekies probably do not breed south of Greenland; in 

 winter they occur in New Brunswick, Newfoundland, and 

 Labrador, becoming abundant off Exeter Sound and along 

 the west coast of Baffin Bay. 



Probably the most accessible breeding grounds are in 

 Iceland. Many European bird lovers find that northerly 

 spot much more accessible than any similarly located place 

 to be reached from either side of the American continent. 

 Iceland is a veritable bird paradise. ^Myriads of gulls, sea 

 ducks, shore birds, and boreal land birds, such as the ptar- 

 migan, gj'rfalcon, and finches, haunt the bleak regions of 

 this island. The dovekie deposits her single large pale- 

 greenish-blue egg in crevices of the sea cliffs. 



