218 BULLETIN 121, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



the colony on the summit reduced to 5,000 birds. In 1881 Mr. Wil- 

 liam Brewster reported only 50 pairs still nesting on the fiat top of 

 the rock, and since that time they have abandoned it entirely, resort- 

 ing only to the safer locations on the ledges. In -1887 the total num- 

 ber of gannets nesting on Bird Rock was estimated at 10,000, and at 

 the time of our visit in 1904 we estimated that their numbers had been 

 reduced to less than 3,000 birds. Fortunately, they are now pro- 

 tected by the lighthouse keeper, and will probablj'- not be further re- 

 duced in numbers by persecution on their breeding grounds, but the 

 soft sandstone cliffs of Bird Rock are gradually wearing away and 

 it is only a question of time when their old home will disappear, 

 and it is doubtful if they can find another suitable and safe substitute 

 for it. 



Though not so well known as Bird Rock, the island of Bonaven- 

 ture, off the Gaspe Peninsula in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, is fully as 

 important as a breeding resort for gannets, for it contains bj^- far the 

 largest colony of these birds on the American coast. Gurney (1913) 

 records this colony as containing about 7,000 gannets. It has a simi- 

 lar formation of red sandstone cliffs some 300 feet high and may, at 

 some remote period in the past, have formed a part of a chain of 

 cliffs or islands of which Bird Rock is now the surviving outpost. 

 Tliere are many broad ledges on Bonaventure Island which are 

 practically inaccessible, offering attractive nesting sites for thousands 

 of gannets, where for many years to come they will be safe from 

 molestation. Gannets are said to have nested on Funk Island many 

 3^ears ago, but after the extermination of the great auk the gannets 

 probably shared a similar fate. Another colony of recent existence 

 was on Perroquet Island, of the Mingan group, off the south coast of 

 Labrador. Mr. William Brewster noted several hundred birds there 

 in 1881, but they disappeared soon after that. We saw a few gannets 

 flying about these islands in June, 1909, but were told that they were 

 not breeding there, having been driven away by constant persecu- 

 tion. Bird Rock and Bonaventure have both been set apart as res- 

 ervations by the Canadian Government, where these birds will be 

 permanently protected. 



Spring. — The northward migration of the gannets begins in April 

 and extends well into May, following the earliest movement of her- 

 ring and other fish on which it feeds. They arrive on their breeding 

 grounds in the Gulf of St. Lawrence in May, many of the older birds 

 being already paired. Love making and nest building begin at once 

 and eggs are laid late in May or in June. 



Courtship. — I have never seen the courtship of the gannet, but 

 Dr. Charles W. Townsend has sent me the following interesting 



