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THIS species, which inhabits the coasts and islands of the north Atlantic
and eastern Arctic ocean, and the Atlantic coast south to New Jersey, has
the same general habits as the common Murre, which, like all the Auks,
Murres and, Puffins, is eminently gregarious, especially in the breeding
season. Davie says that tens of thousands of these birds congregate to make
their nests on the rocky islands, laying single eggs near one another on
the shelves of the cliffs. The birds sit side by side, and although crowded
together never make the least attempt to quarrel. Clouds of birds may be
seen circling in the air over some huge, rugged bastion, "forming a picture
which would seem to belong to the imaginary rather than the realistic."
They utter a syllable which sounds exactly like _murre_. The eggs are so
numerous as to have commercial value, and they are noted for their great
variation in markings and ground color. On the Farallones islands, where
the eggs were until recently collected for market purposes, the Murres nest
chiefly in colonies, the largest rookery covering a hillside and
surrounding cliffs at West End, and being known as the Great Rookery. To
observe the egg-gatherers, says an eye-witness, is most interesting. "As an
egger climbs his familiar trail toward the birds a commotion becomes
apparent among the Murres. They jostle their neighbors about the uneven
rocks and now and then with open bills utter a vain protest and crowd as
far as possible from the intruder without deserting their eggs. But they do
not stay his progress and soon a pair, then a group, and finally, as the
fright spreads, the whole vast rookery take wing toward the ocean. In the
distance, perhaps, we see, suspended over a cliff by a slender rope, an
egger gathering the eggs from along the narrow shelves of rock, seeming
indifferent to the danger of the work." All this is now changed, the
authorities having intervened to prevent the wholesale destruction of the
eggs. The Western Gull, however, is another enemy of the Murre (the
California species;) it carries off and devours both eggs and young. Mr.
Bryant says the Gull picks up a Murre's egg bodily and carries it away in
his capacious mouth, but does not stick his bill into it to get hold, as is
stated by some writers, whose observations must have referred to the eggs
already broken by the Gulls or eggers.
The eggs of Brunnich's Murre cannot be distinguished from those of the
common species. They show a wonderful diversity of color, varying from
white to bluish or dark emerald-green. Occasionally unmarked specimens are
found, but they are usually handsomely spotted, blotched, and lined in
patterns of lilac, brown, and black over the surface.
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