'UJ j 



LIBRARY ao 



THE OTTAWA NATURALIST 



Vol. XXXII. 



MAY, 1918. 



No. 2. 



THE GANNETS OF BONAVENTURE ISLAND.* 



By p. a. Taverner. 



Of the great Gannet colonies that at one time 

 dotted both east and west coasts of the North 

 Atlantic but few now remain. There are several 

 surviving colonies around the British Isles, notably 

 on the Bass Rock from which the species obtains its 

 specific name, Sula bassana, and Iceland still has 

 a rookery or so but in the new world the species is 

 now reduced to two localities. Bird Rock, near the 

 Magdalen Islands, and Bonaventure Island, off the 

 Bay of Chaleur side of the Gaspe Peninsula. The 

 Bird Rock rookery lying out in the middle of the 

 gulf is difficult of access, but Bonaventure Island 

 within three miles of the mainland and the village of 

 Perce is easily reached and is one of the natural 

 wonders of eastern Canada. 



Any small scale map shows the great indentation 

 of the Bay of Chaleur in the south shore of the 

 Gulf of St. Lawrence. The land projection separ- 

 ating it from the main body of the gulf is the Gaspe 

 Peninsula and just inside the extreme tip lies the 

 village of Perce with Bonaventure Island just off 

 the coast and forming a partial shelter to its 

 anchorage. 



Perce is noted for several reasons. As one of 

 the oldest settlements on the coast, it was the head- 

 quarters of an old and important fishing company 

 and hence the supply centre of the surrounding 

 country before the railroad came, reorganizing old 

 systems of distribution. With Mount Saint Anne 

 towering behind it and flanked by the giant walls 

 of the Murailles rising from the sea, it is one of 

 the few spots in eastern America where sea and 

 mountain scenery combine in a single landscape and, 

 whilst the heights are not as overpoweringly im- 

 pressive as in the mountains of the far west the 

 scene is vigorous and satisfactory to eastern eyes. 

 Just off shore from the village lies Perce Rock a 

 striking monument to geological history. A great 



*Published by permission of the Director of tiie 

 Geological Survey. 



Photographs by the author, through the courtesy 

 of the Geological Survey. 



lone rock mass sheer and straight on every hand, 

 some twelve hundred feet long by three hundred 

 high; pointed and highest at the shore end and no 

 more than eighty feet through for the rest of its 

 length, recalling the hull of a great ship that has 

 just left the ways and is taking its initial plunge into 

 the sea. In the centre of the seaward half is the 

 great arch that has given it and the adjoining village 

 its name. Eighty feet from spring to spring and of 

 an equal height, it pierces clear through the rocky 

 mass and frames a view of blue sea and sky beyond. 



With these scenic advantages alone Perce should 

 be famous, but adjoining is Bonaventure Island and 

 the bird rookeries on its outer or seaward face. The 

 island itself is roughly circular in outline and about 

 three miles across in its greatest dimension. On part 

 of the main land side the steep shores are broken 

 down to the sea level but everywhere else they are 

 steep unbroken rocky cliffs rising on the seaward 

 face some three hundred feet straight from the sea. 

 Here are the bird rookeries. 



Approaching this side from the sea, one is aware 

 that every ledge and shelf is covered with white as 

 though snow had piled in drifts upon them allowing 

 only the overhangs to show dull red between the 

 glistening surfaces. A wind seems to stir the white 

 masses, and they blow off in eddies and clouds of 

 drifting flakes that finally resolve themselves into 

 great white birds that swirl about the cliff faces and 

 circle round the intruder amid a pandemonium of 

 hoarse cries. These are the Gannets, the Solon 

 Geese of older authors, each as large as a goose, 

 pure white with black wing tips and a slight 

 creamy wash on crown and hind neck. The air is 

 filled with their waving wings. They fill it like a 

 swarm of giant midges circling in the sun. 



The rocks from which they came come down 

 straight into the sea with white surf breaking at their 

 feet. Here and there in calmer moments good 

 boatsmanship and agility effects a landing on some 



