THE BRUNNICH'S MURRE 



( Uria lonivia. ) 



The Briinnich's Murres are birds which 

 have a decidedly northern range which 

 is very Hmited within the United States 

 where it is only a winter visitor. Their 

 range is well known and may be given 

 as the coasts and islands of the North 

 Atlantic and eastern Arctic Oceans, 

 southward to the lakes of northern New 

 York and the coast of New Jersey. 

 Their nesting range extends from the 

 Gulf of St. Lawrence northward. Dur- 

 ing the winter season of some years they 

 have been observed quite a distance west 

 of their usual range. In his ''Birds of 

 Ohio," Mr. Dawson says: *Tn the win- 

 ter of 1 896- 1 897 a driving storm from 

 the Labrador coast caught up a consider- 

 able number of these multitudinous sea- 

 fowl and swept them far inland. When 

 the storm had spent its fury, the Murres 

 were found promiscuously stranded in 

 the lakes and water-ways, or wandering 

 about dazed and helpless in the fields of 

 Ohio, Indiana, and neighboring states. 

 * * * The first published record for 

 Ohio was of the one taken by Rev. J. M. 

 Keck, of Mentor, on December 19, 1896. 

 A score of others have since come to 

 light, all taken at about the same time or 

 a few days later. This memorable inun- 

 dation by Briinnich's Murres was gen- 

 eral throughout the Eastern States and 

 records were made as far south as South 

 Carolina." During the winter, however, 

 the Briinnich's Murres frequent the open 

 sea and keep quite far from land. They 

 are very expert in the water, and when 

 disturbed by the approach of man they 

 will suddenly dive, and using their wings 

 as well as their feet, they will swim for 

 long distances under water. 



In his ''Birds of Indiana," Mr. Amos 

 W. Butler saw them during the month 

 of December, 1896. This was the same 

 month and year that they appeared in 

 Ohio. Mr. Butler writes as follows: 

 "Briinnich's Murre has, as I have been 

 informed, been reported the present win- 



ter from other interior localities. It has, 

 I believe, howevf;\ never before been 

 authentically reported far from the 

 ocean. Mr. Robert Ridgway informs me 

 that they have this winter ranged down 

 the Atlantic Coast as far as South Caro- 

 lina. It would seem probable that some 

 storm had driven them far out of their 

 usual range. Evidently those mentioned 

 herein were carried inland and dispersed 

 about the same time, perhaps by the same 

 storm. They were all taken within a few 

 days. Only twenty-one days elapsed 

 from the date when the first was obtained 

 until the last was in the hands of a nat- 

 uralist." These are the only Indiana 

 records which are verified by specimens 

 taken. 



The Briinnich's Murres nest in groups, 

 frequently very large communities, al- 

 most touching each other as they sit upon 

 their single eggs, for but one is ever 

 laid by a Murre, upon the bare ledges of 

 rocky cliffs. The single eggs are laid 

 upon the rocky surface and no attempt 

 is made to build a nest. General Greely 

 in his "Three Years of Arctic Service" 

 says of the Briinnich's Murres on the 

 bird cliffs of Arveprins Island (North- 

 ern Greenland) : "For over a thousand 

 feet out of the sea these cliffs rise per- 

 pendicularly, broken only by -narrow 

 ledges, in general inaccessible to man or 

 other enemy, which afford certain kinds 

 of sea-fowl secure and convenient breed- 

 inQ:-places. On the face of these sea- 

 led,Q;es of Arveprins Island, Briinnich's 

 Guillemots, or Loons, gather in the 

 breeding season, not by thousands, but 

 by tens of thousands. Each lays but a sin- 

 gle gray ^gg, speckled with brown ; yet 

 so numerous are the birds that every 

 available spot is covered with eggs." He 

 also calls attention to the fact that each 

 bird knows its own t%s^. The eggs are 

 said to be very fine food, and the flesh of 

 these Murres is highly praised by all 

 who have partaken of it. General Greely 



