90 



MEMOIRS OF THE NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 



Through the powerful field telescope that I had with me I could make out 

 clearly the shape and proportions of the bill and the characteristic lines of 

 demarkation between the black and white on the cheeks and throat which dis- 

 tinguish the young of Brunnich's from that of the Common Murre. Indeed 

 the identification of the bird was almost as satisfactory to me at the time as if 

 I had held it in my hand. It was seen in the pond later that same day by 

 Mr. Walter Deane, but neither of us succeeded in finding it there the next 

 morning. 



Although Brunnich's Murre occurs inland oftener than do any other of the 

 Alcidse, its visits to the fresh-water ponds and rivers of New England appear to 

 be made only at wide and irregular intervals. It is a rather common winter 

 resident along our seacoast. 



7. Alle alia (Linn.). 

 DovEKiE. Little Auk. 



Transient visitor in late autumn or winter, occurring infrequently and at irregular inter- 

 vals, but sometimes abundantly. 



Like the Puffin and the Razor-billed Auk, the Dovekie loves the open ocean, 

 but unlike them it is apparently unable to remain at sea during every kind of 

 weather, for exceptionally heavy gales, occurring late in autumn, or in winter, 

 sometimes drive it inland in considerable numbers. Indeed it is probable that 

 the memorable flight which inundated eastern Massachusetts on November 15, 

 1871,1 comprised nearly, if not quite all, the birds which were living at that time 

 off our coast. 



On the date just named a violent easterly storm, accompanied by torrents of 

 rain and an exceptionally high tide, forced multitudes of Dovekies to seek refuge 

 in the fresh-water ponds and rivers near the coast, and many birds were picked 

 vip in an exhausted condition in fields, meadows, barnyards, and even in our city 

 streets. Within the area to which this paper relates they appeared in the great- 

 est numbers in Charles River between Cambridge and Waltham; in the Mystic 

 Ponds; and in Fresh Pond. The sheet of water last named was visited by 

 hundreds, which came in singly or by twos and threes, and occasionally in flocks 



' I have two specimens which I shot during this flight, one, no. 4135, on the i6th in Fresh Pond, 

 the other, no. 4136, on the 17th in Charles River near the Cambridge Cemetery. 



