San Antonio Daily Light

PROTECTING SEABIRDS' EGGS.
Lighthouse Board Stops Robbery of Guillemots.

At the solicitation of the committee on bird protection of the American Ornithologists' union, of which Prof. Leverett M. Loomis, of the California Academy of Sciences, is a member, the government officials at San Francisco have set the seal of their displeasure on the importing of seabirds' eggs from the Farrallones. The lighthouse board at Washington, which has the affairs of the Farrallones in charge as a sort of United States government preserve, has issued a decree that the traffic in the eggs of the seabirds must cease.

The mandate of the lighthouse board will bring to a close a unique industry of that city. The eggs of the murre, or foolish guillemot, have been shipped to the markets of the city in great quantities ever since 1849, at which date they were almost the only fresh eggs to be had, bringing over a dollar a dozen. The birds were present in the breeding season from May until August on the islands in such countless thousands that although persistently robbed their numbers seemed to show no appreciable diminution. In recent years, however, naturalists have noticed the effect of the annual persecution of the vast colonies and feared that they might become extinct. As a result of the investigation the prohibitive measure has been enacted.

As high as 20,000 dozen of the eggs were annually brought to market by the Greek and Italian fishermen. They are twice the size of an ordinary hen's egg, for which they are said to be an excellent substitute, and they sold at retail at from 15 to 25 cents per dozen. During the last four or five seasons the Greeks have been driven off and the egg industry has been carried on by the lighthouse keepers on the Farrallones.