MURRES 
243 
Field Marks. Large size and general black and white coloration as a murre. Swim- 
ming, the sharp bill and tail carried low instead of slightly cocked-up will separate from 
the Razor-bill. From the Thick-billed Guillemot, the squarer line 
between the white breast and black throat and the absence of light 
streak along the bill gape are the best field marks in summer. In , 
winter the white patch back from the eye may sometimes be seen. 
From the Rhinoceros Auklet, larger size and longer bill. 
Nesting. In large colonies amongst rocks and in crevices of 
bold sea faces. 
Distribution. Coasts and islands of north Atlantic and north 
Pacific. In America from southern Nova Scotia north along the Labrador and locally 
from California northward to Alaska. 
Figure 356 
Bill of 
California Murre; 
scale, 
SUBSPECIES. The Murre of the east coast is the Atlantic Murre (la Marmette 
ou le Guillemot de l’Atlantique) Uria aalge aalge; of the west coast the California Murre 
(la Marmette ou le Guillemot du Pacifique) Uria aalge calif arnica, distinguished by a 
more salient angle at base of lower mandible (Figure 355, compare with 356). 
The numbers of murres that find breeding room on some sea-cliffs is 
astonishing. At the edge of the rocky shelves they gather as closely as 
they can stand, like files of soldiers, bearing strong resemblance to the lines 
of penguins that we see in pictures from the Antarctic. 
Figure 357 
Field marks of Murres: 
Left, Thick-billed Guillemot; Centre, Common Murre; Right, ringvia form of Common Murre. 
31. Thick-billed Murre. urunnich’s murre. la marmette ou le guillemot 
du nord. Uria lomvia. L, 16 -50. This murre is almost exactly similar to the preceding 
species. 
Distinctions. Like the Common Murre, but the bill is somewhat larger anti noticeably 
heavier (Figure 358, compare with 355). In summer the base of the upper mandible at 
the gape is light bluish, the head and crown are 
perceptibly darker than the throat instead of being 
similar in colour, and the white breast invades the 
black foreneck in an acuter angle (Figure 357). In 
winter the black of the crown comes down over the 
eyes and ears without a break, leaving no white 
dash back from over the eyes (Compare Figures 358 
and 355). 
Field Marks. Stubbier, heavier bill and color- 
ation of the head and neck will under exceptional 
visual conditions separate this bird in life from the 
Common Murre. Sharp and tapering instead of 
blunt and deep bill, and tail not turned up in swim- 
ming, should serve to distinguish it from the Razor-billed Auk (See previous species). 
Figure 358 
Thick-billed Guillemot; 
scale, §. 
Winter 
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