296 THE GANNET 



number of those that wee caL Margaulx, that are white, 

 and bigger than any geese, which [i.e., the islands] were 

 seuered in one part. In the other were onely Godetz 

 [Guillemots and Razorbills] and great Apponatz [the Great 

 Auk],* like to those of that Hand that we aboue haue 

 mentioned : we went downe to the lowest part of the least 

 Hand, where we killed aboue a thousand of those Godetz, 

 and Apponatz. We put into our boates so many of them 

 as we pleased, for in lesse than one houre we might have 

 filled thirtie such boats of them : we named them the Hands 

 of Margaulx." 



The identity of these three islands with what are now 

 known as the Bird Rocks is sufficiently established ; their 

 position, about the centre of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, is 

 shown on the map, and they are still the home of the 

 Gannet, as they were in Cartier's time. His expressive 

 phrase " plaine de Margaulx " shows that he found plenty 

 of them when he was there. It has been suggested by 

 Mr. F. M. Chapman that a search among the narratives of 

 other early voyagers might yield something of interest, but 

 the only thing that I have come across about Gannets is 

 that among the birds of Newfoundland, named by Sir 

 Humfrey Gilbert, the step-brother of Ralegh, who made 



* See Miss F. P. Hardy [Mrs. Eokstorm] on the identification of these 

 birds' names, ' The Auk," 1888, p. 382. 



