266 WEAK-WINGED DIVING BIRDS 



flora and big game. There are dozens of birds there which 

 we would gladly introduce to the reader, but, owing to un- 

 controllable limitations, only the most interesting examples 

 can be accorded space. 



Of all arctic and northern sea-birds, the California 

 MuRRE^ (pronounced mur) deserves to be mentioned first, 

 for the reason that it is and ever has been most in the public 

 eye. This is really a subspecies of the Common Murre^ 

 of the North Atlantic, which nests on Bird Rocks in the Gulf 

 of St. Lawrence, and sometimes comes as far south as Massa- 

 chusetts. There is another North Atlantic species, called 

 Brunnich's Murre,^ also nesting on Bird Rocks, which 

 occasionally strays down to Long Island. Both the Atlantic 

 species are black above and white underneath. 



The California Murre is the bird which once nested on 

 the Farallone Islands, about thirty-five miles west of San 

 Francisco, in countless thousands, and furnished between 

 1880 and 1890, according to Mr. W. E. Bryant, from 180,000 

 to 228,000 eggs per annum to the San Francisco market. 

 Like true Americans, the eggers always endeavored to make 

 "a clean sweep," regardless of the future of the rookery, and 

 under their ministrations the Murres rapidly declined in 

 number. 



Finally, an appeal was made to the United States Light- 

 House Board. The admirable record of that body in the 

 preservation of wild life was sustained by an order which at 

 once put a stop to all egg-gathering on the Farallones. It 

 has already been noted in the chapter on seals and sea-lions 



■ U'ri-a tro'i-le californica. ^ V. troile. ^ U. lom'vi-a. 



