256 Dr, Bryant on the Birds 



We sailed from Gaspe on the 21st, and arrived at the Bird 

 Rocks on tlie morning of the 23rd ; these are two in number, called 

 the Great Bird or Gannet Rock, and the Little or North Bird ; 

 they are about three quarters of a mile apart, the water between 

 them very shoal, showing that, at no very distant epoch, 

 they formed a single island. They are composed entirely of a 

 soft, reddish-brown sandstone, the strata of which are very regu- 

 lar and nearly horizontal, dipping very slightly to the S. W. The 

 North Bird is much the smallest, and though the base is more 

 accessible, the summit cannot, I believe, be reached, at least, I 

 was unable to do so ; it is the most irregular in its outline, pre- 

 senting many enormous deiached fragments, and is divided in 

 one place into two separate islands at high water ; the northerly 

 one several times higher than broad, so as to present the appear- 

 ance of a huge rocky pillar. Gannet Rock is a quarter of a mile 

 in its longest diameter from S. W. to N. E. The highest point 

 of the rock is at the northerly end, where, according to the chart 

 it is 140 feet high, aud from which it gradually slopes to the 

 southerly end, where it is from 80 to 100. 



The sides are nearly vertical, the summit in many places over- 

 hanging. There are two beaches at its base on the southerly and 

 westerly sides, the most westerly one comparatively smooth and 

 composed of rounded stones. The easterly one, on the contrary, 

 is very rough and covered by irregular blocks, many of large size 

 and still angular, showing that they have but recently fallen from 

 the cliffs above. This beach is very difficult to land on, but the 

 other presents no great difficulty in ordinary weather ; the top of 

 the rock cannot, however, be reached from either of them. The 

 only spot from which at present the ascent can be made, is the 

 rocky point between the two beaches ; this has probably, from 

 the yielding nature of the rock, altered materially since Audubon's 

 visit ; at present, it would be impossible to haul a boat up from 

 want of space. The landing is very difficult at all times, as it is 

 necessary to jump from a boat, thrown about by the surf, on to 

 the inclined surface of the ledge, rendered slippery by the fuci 

 which cover it, and bounded towards the rock by a nearly vertical 

 face. The landing once effected, the first part of the ascent is 

 comparatively easy, being over large fragments and broad ledges, 

 but the upper part is both difficult and dangerous, as in some 

 places the face of the rock is vertical for eight or ten feet and the 

 projecting ledges very narrow, and the rock itself so soft that it 



