EXPLORATIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR. 713 



net flies above tlie water is proportioned to the depth at which the fish 

 are swimming beneath, and Captain Collins tells me that when fish are 

 swimming near the surface the Gannet flies very low and darts obliquely 

 instead of vertically upon his prey. Should any finny game be seen 

 within range, down goes the Gannet headlong, the nearly closed wings 

 being used to guide the living arrow in its downward flight. Just 

 above the surface the wings are firmly closed, and a small splash ofspray 

 shows where the winged fisher cleaves the water to transfix his prey. 

 Disappearing for a few seconds the bird reappears, rests for a mo- 

 ment on the water, loug enough to swallow his catch, and then rises in 

 pursuit of other game. The appetite of the Gannet is limited only by 

 the capacity of its stomach, and a successful fisher may frequently be 

 seen resting on the water, too heavily laden to rise without disgorging 

 a part of its cargo, which it sometimes must do to escape from the 

 pathway of an approaching vessel. 



The Guillemot {Gepphus columba) breeds in the caves of Entry Island, 

 and a few old birds were seen off Grindstone Island. 



On the 9th of July the Grampus ran over to the Bird Rocks, and 

 extensive collections were made of the various birds from whose 

 abundance these little rocky islets took their name. They are de- 

 scribed in the account of Cartier's first voyage, and from the occasional 

 references that occur in Haklnyt seem to have been visited now and 

 then for supplies of birds and eggs, a practice still followed by the fish- 

 ermen of to-day. Many birds and eggs are taken annually, and although 

 egging is prohibited by law after a certain date, game laws are easier 

 enacted than enforced, and many eggs are gathered out of season and 

 many breeding birds killed. The principal species of birds inhabiting 

 the Bird Rocks are the Gannet (Sula bassana): Razorbill (Alca torda); 

 Common Murre (Uria troile); Brunnich's Murre (Uria lomvia); and 

 Puffin {Fratercuta arctica). Besides these a few Kittiwake Gulls (Rissa 

 tridaetyla) are found there, and Leach's Petrel (Oceaiiodroma leucorrhoa) 

 breeds in rat-like burrows on the summit of the Great Rock. The Gan- 

 net has bred here from time immemorial, and the abundance of these 

 great white birds, " which bite even as dogs," led Cartier to christen 

 these rocks the " Isles des Margaulx," or Islands of Gannets. 



Cartier's account is as follows: 



We came to these islands, two of which are as sfceepe and upright as any 

 wall, ho that it was not possible to climbe them, and betweene them there is a little 

 rooke. These islands were as full of hints as any field or medow is of grasse, which 

 there do make their nestcs, and in the greatest of them there was a great and infinite 

 number of those that wee call Margaulx, which are white and bigger than any 

 geese, which were senered in one part. In the other were onely Godetz, bnt toward 

 the shoare there were of those Godetz, and Great Apponatz, like to those of that, 

 island that we above have, mentioned. We went downe to the. lowest part of the 

 least island, where we killed above a. thousand of those Godetz anil Apponatz. We 

 put iuto our boates SO many of them as we pleased, for in lesse than one home we 

 might have filled thirtie such boats of them. 



