46 Bird- Lore rapid and erratic tide had swept us by; instead of twelve miles we had run an unlucky thirteen, and back we turned, into the retreating fog, which, rolling up before us, left Walrus Island not only perceptible to the eye but, as we passed to leeward a quarter of a mile away, decidedly per- ceptible to our noses. Nature has considerately furnished two landing places, very excellent ones, too, provided the sea be smooth and the wind in the right direction: and we came to anchor of^ the most picturesque of these, a little steep - walled cove, on one side of which it was possible to climb out upon a stone quay. The cautious Burgomaster Gulls were circling high overhead with wailing cries long before we reached land, and some of the Kitti wakes and a few of the most nervous Arries deserted their nests or eggs, as the case might be, as we drew near; but the bulk of the bird population declined to budge until we had landed and were close upon them. This bulk con- sisted of thousands of the Pacific Murre {Uria lomvia arra) , occupying the cliffs and angular rocks of the southern and western portion of the island, where their many -colored eggs lay thickly scattered about. Mr. William Palmer notes that at the time of his visit in 1890 these birds were mostly on the western side, while on the east and south were the legions of the California Murre {Uria troile californica) , but no such striking peculiarity of distribution was noticed by our part', nor were the California Murres much in evidence. It had often been a matter of wonderment how any given member of a great bird colony could find its own particular egg among the hundreds available for a choice, and the behavior of returning Arries was watched with no little interest. If one might judge by their directness of flight as they came whirring in from sea, the birds had a good bump of locality and a pretty clear idea of the whereabouts of their respective eggs. It has been suggested that these birds do not of necessity get each its own egg, but that often an egg is chosen because it seems convenient. Such, how- ever, did not seem to be the case with the Arries. On the contrary, there seemed to be a very definite selective process, for a bird would alight, cock its head on one side, waddle a step or two, cast another knowing look about, and after a few such trials apparently find an egg that seemed satis- factory and settle contentedly down upon it. May it not be that the wonderful variation in the color of the eggs, a variation that is most striking when seen in nature, enables each bird to find its own with ease? Another suggestion in regard to the eggs of Murres is that the very pale eggs (ami some are absolutely devoid of markings) are the later la ings of birds whose earlier eggs have been destroyed, and this suggestion seems very plausible. The Kittiwakes {Rissa hrevirostris and R. tr'idactyla pollicaris) were mostly confined to the ledges of rock about the landing place, but the Burgomasters occupied the higher central portion of the islet where the
