BIRD ROCK 175 
most exposed situations ; and seeing them now for 
the first time in Nature, I was quite willing to accept 
the theory which has been advanced to account for 
their markedly toplike or pearlike shape. A round 
or elliptical egg, laid in the situations often chosen 
by the Murres, 
would, when 
moved by the 
wind or incubat- 
ing bird, readily 
roll from its pre- 
carious position, 
but the pointed 
egg of the Murre 
when disturbed 
describes a circle 
about its own end. 
Thus, like a dip- 
lomat, it seeming- 
ly yields to supe- 
rior force while 
retaining its orig- 90. Young Murres and egg. 
inal position. The 
eggs vary in color from greenish blue to buff, and 
are strikingly scrawled and blotched with shades 
of chocolate. No two are alike, a fact which it is 
supposed may aid the parent Murre in distinguish- 
ing her own egg among the dozens with which it 
may be placed. 
The few eggs seen were doubtless laid by birds 
which had been robbed earlier in the season, but 
young were found in every stage, from the newly 
hatched downy chick," who sat on his narrow ledge 
== 
