WATER BIRDS. 43 
Family 3. ALCIDA!.—Auks and Murres. 
KEY TO SPECIES. 
A. Wing more than 7 inches.—B, BB. 
B. Gonys less than 1 inch (av. .83).—Briinnich’s Murre. No. 6. 
BB. Gonys more than 1 inch (av. 1.14).—Common Murre (Appendix). 
AA. Wing less than 6 inches.—Little Auk. No. 7. 
6. Brunnich’s Murre. Uria lomvia lomvia (Linn.). (31) 
Synonyms: Thick-billed Murre, Thick-billed Guillemot, Briinnich’s Guillemot.— 
Alca lomvia, Linn., 1758.—Uria lomvia, Bryant, 1861, A. O. U. Checklist, 1895. 
Plate IT. 
A sea-bird of odd appearance with short legs, webbed feet with only three 
toes, and thick, soft, duck-like plumage, slate above and white below. 
Distribution.—Coasts and islands of north Atlantic and eastern Arctic 
Oceans; south (in winter) to the lakes of northern New York and the coast 
of New Jersey. Breeding from the Gulf of St. Lawrence northward. 
This straggler from the north was first recorded from Michigan by the 
writer (Auk, XII, 387, Oct., 1895), the occasion being the capture of a 
specimen in a dying condition at Green- 
ville, Montcalm county, December 13, 
1894. The specimen was brought alive 
to the late Percy Selous, who made a water- 
color sketch of the bird and sent it to us 
for identification. Subsequently Mr. 
Selous presented the nicely mounted speci- Fig. 5. Foot of Brunnich’s Murre. 
men to the Agricultural College, and it is SOR EhI) 
now in our museum. Specimens are frequently taken in the fall and winter 
along the Atlantic coast as far south as New York, and they have been 
recorded occasionally from inland lakes many miles from salt water. They 
occurred in large numbers at Quebec, Canada, from November 15, 1893, to 
January 8, 1894, (Auk, Vol. XI, 175), but the above specimen, so far as 
known, is the first to be recorded from any part of the Great Lake region. 
No other specimen was taken during the winter of 1894-95 so far as we can 
learn, but in December, 1896, a remarkable flight of these birds occurred 
on lakes Ontario and Erie, and many specimens were taken in Michigan, 
Ohio, Indiana and Ontario. Probably a score or more were taken in 
Michigan waters, but the following are the only ones of which we have record: 
One taken on Detroit River December 19, 1896, now in the high school 
collection at Sault Ste. Marie; one adult male shot from a flock near 
Gibralter, Wayne county, Michigan, December 26, 1896, originally recorded 
as Uria troile (Bull. M. O. C. I., p. 10); this specimen now in the museum 
of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; two specimens killed at St. 
Clair Flats, and first recorded by W. A. Davidson as “Black Guillemots” 
(Bull. M. O. C. I., p. 8 and Ibid. I, 24); in addition to these Mr. Swales 
states that there are mounted birds at Ecorse and Trenton, Michigan, 
taken in December, 1896. He also states that during this flight “Some 
