JAEGERS 
17 
ondaries tipped with white; sides of head, neck, and throat velvety sooty 
brown; under parts pure white. 
Winter plumage: sides of head, 
neck, throat, and under parts 
pure white; a dusky stripe 
back of eye. Young: like Fi g- 33 • California Murre. 
winter adults, but with white more restricted on sides of head and lower 
throat faintly mottled with dusky. Wing: 8.30, bill 1.86. 
Distribution. — Pacific coast of North America; south to southern Cali¬ 
fornia. 
Eggs. — Deposited on the bare rock. 
The attention of the ornithological world has been called to the 
murres by the San Francisco egg industry, which threatened to de¬ 
stroy the rookeries on the Farallone Islands. Between 1850 and 1856 
three or four millions of eggs are said to have been brought to San 
Francisco, where they sold for a little less than hens’ eggs. In the 
eighties the number of eggs marketed annually, Mr. Bryant states, 
averaged from 180,000 to 228,000. This wholesale destruction de¬ 
creased the numbers of the murres to such an extent that in 1897 
the attention of the Lighthouse Board was called to the matter, and 
they put a stop to the business on the islands. 
The murres’ eggs are considered a delicacy not only by man, but 
by gulls and young sea lions. Two or three gulls will sometimes 
combine to rob a nest. When they try to steal the young the murres 
crowd their little ones from the rocks so they can escape by diving. 
In describing the habits of the murres Mr. Bryant says that on the 
rocks they continually bow their heads and make a great noise, and 
when on the wing sometimes emit a curious grunting note. They 
are especially clamorous before a storm. 
When incubating, one bird stays on the nest during the day and 
the other during the night, and when the exchange is made a great 
commotion ensues, the air being filled with quarreling, screaming 
masses of bird life. 
ORDER LONGIPENNES: LONG-WINGED 
SWIMMERS. 
(Families Stercorariime, Larid^e, etc.) 
FAMILY STERCORARIIDiE: JAEGERS, ETC. 
GENUS STERCORARIUS. 
General Characters. — Bill strongly hooked, nostrils near middle, section 
above and back of nostrils covered with a saddle-like plate ; tail with 
middle pair of feathers much the longest. 
