North American Birds Eggs. 



21 



foundland, marks the place of 

 their disappearance from our 

 shores. There are about sev- 

 enty known specimens of the 

 bird preserved, and about the 

 same number of eggs. The 

 immediate cause of the ex- 

 tinction of these birds was 

 their destruction for food by 

 fishermen and immigrants, 

 anil later for the use of their 

 feathers commercially. The 

 single egg that they laid was 

 about 5.00 X 3 inches, the 

 ground color was buffy white, 

 and the spots brownish and 

 Idackish. The markings var- 

 ied in endless pattern as do 

 those of the smaller Auk. 

 There are but two real eggs 

 (piaster casts in imitation of 

 the Auk"s eggs are to be 

 found in many collections) 

 in collections in this country, 

 one in the Academy of Natu- 

 ral Sciences, Philadelphia, 

 and the other in the Nation- 

 al Museum, at Washington. 

 Through the kindness of Mr. 

 ^yitmer Stime, of the Acad- 

 emy of Natural Sciences, we 

 are enabled to show a full- 

 sized reproduction from a 

 photograph of the egg in their 

 collection. 



34. Dovekie. AUcalle. 



Range.— Coasts and islands of the North Atlantic and East Arctic oceans, 



breeding in the Arctic regions and wintering as far south as the Middle States. 



The little Dovekie or Sea Dove is the 



smallest member of the family, lieing 



y^-' '~' only S inches in length, and is the only 



member of the sub-family iallina?.i The 

 form is ver_v robust and the bill is short 

 and stout. In summer the plumage is 

 Idack above: the throat and upper breast 

 are sooty brown, and the under parts are 

 white, as are also the tips of the second- 

 aries and edges ot the scapulars. They 

 nest in large numbers on the Rocky cliffs 

 of islands in the East Arctic. Their 



single pale greenish blue egg is placedin a crevice of the rocks. Size 1.80 x 1.25. 



Data.— Greenland, June 8, 1893. Single egg laid in a crevice of a sea cliff. 



Kru 



'.Vniciii: the M'ater Fowl." 



I'ORXEK OF HIRI: 



iL' Murrt.' 



Ph..t..l.y II. 

 ROCK. 



K..Inll, 



lupper', PutHns iiniddlf' and Kazor- 

 hilled Auks iliiwcri. 



[Pale greenish blue. J 





t? 





