Unusual Migration of Brünnich's Murre. 529 



RECORDS. {See Map I.) 



1890. 



In December òf 1890 a flight of Brünnich's Murre occurred 

 on the New England coast of sufficient size to be recorded as 

 unusual. A specimen taken at Swampscott, Massachusetts, 

 on the 20th, when examined, contained a few fragments of 

 fish. Mr. C. K. Averill, Jr., says: "The occurrence of 

 Brünnich's Murre (Uria lomvia) along the Connecticut coast 

 during the past winter (1890-91), in large numbers, seems 

 worthy of notice, since the species was not recorded in 

 Linsley's or Merriam's list, nor have I seen any Connecticut 

 record " (3) ; and he quotes Mr. Wm. H. Hoyt, of Stamford: 

 "The Murre s were plentiful here, from December 20th to 

 about February 10th and a large number were shot. Fourteen 

 specimens fell under my own observation. They all seemed 

 to be in the last stages of starvation. One was found by the 

 roadside at some distance from the shore, where it had 

 evidently fallen from exhaustion. The stomachs of those 

 which I examined contained nothing but sand." Another 

 paragraph in the same article says : " Mr. W. F. Davies, of 

 Stony Creek, writes me that hundreds could be seen there 

 from the 1st to the 10th of January so tame they could be 

 taken in the hand ; they could fly, but seemed hungry and 

 fatigued, some being found five miles from the salt water ; 

 he thought many died of starvation." And quoting Mr. 

 D. C. Sanford, he says, from Penfield Reef Lighthouse, off 

 Black Rock, to the mouth of the Sangatuck River : " There 

 were thousands of them, and hundreds were shot off 

 Sangatuck." These records are typical of many that were 

 to follow in after years, when Brünnich's Murre, though 

 starving and exhausted, was able to push beyond any pre- 

 vious recorded migration, passing down the Atlantic coast, 

 and appearing far up the tributary rivers, ascending the St. 

 Lawrence into the fresh waters of the Great Lakes only to 

 perish in the great quest for food. 



1891-2. 



There seem to be no records. 



