The California Murre 



South Farallon Island. And, 'in the opinion of the eggers, not more than 

 one egg in six of those deposited on that island was gathered.' ' 



The history of the Farallon egg traffic deserves a volume, whereas 

 we have only a few inches of space. It is difficult at this late day to form 



Taken on the Southeast Farallon 



MURRES' EGGS 



Photo by the Author 



any adequate conception of the number of birds involved or of the ruth- 

 lessness displayed by the looters. Their motto was "all the traffic will 

 bear," and the devil take the birds. Whereas the toll of 9 years had aver- 

 aged twenty-five thousand dozen a year up to 1873, it fell away thereafter 

 to fifteen thousand. By 1896, when Mr. Leverett M. Loomis visited the 

 island, the picking had fallen to 7645 dozen. An alarm raised by this com- 

 petent observer led to governmental interference, and in the following year 

 all traffic in eggs was forbidden, and the islands were placed under the juris- 

 diction of the Lighthouse Board, a branch of the Treasury Department. 

 In 1918, jurisdiction over the birds was transferred to the Department of 

 Agriculture, and the policy of absolute protection will doubtless be main- 

 tained. 



The infamous egg traffic is a thing of the past, but the Farallon rook- 

 eries have never recovered. Birds, which in fifty years had been called 



1502 



