65 



Remarks on some of the Birds that breed in the Gulf 

 OF St. Lawrence. By Henry Bryant, m.d. 



The trip to Labrador, made by me the past summer, for the pm*- 

 pose of procuring specimens of the eggs of those sea-birds that breed 

 there, and also to ascertain what changes, if any, had taken place in 

 their economy since Audubon's visit, was unfortunately delayed till 

 the 21st of June, so that the results were much less satisfactory than 

 I hoped to have obtained. Instead of visiting Anticosti and the whole 

 of the North shore, I was compelled to sail directly to the Bird Rocks, 

 thence to Romaine, the nearest point on the North shore, and from 

 thence, following the shore line, to Chateau Beau at the outlet of the 

 Straits of Belle Isle, the farthest point reached. 



The season was remarkably stormy and cold, and I was informed 

 by every one that such an inclement one had not been known for 

 years. This also delayed my progress and added much to the diffi- 

 culty of making researches, as many of the breeding-places of this 

 class of birds are accessible only in pleasant weather. 



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

 on the morning of the 23d ; these are two in nmnber, 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 entii-ely of a soft, reddish-brown sandstone, the 

 strata of which are very regular and nearly horizontal, dipping very 

 slightly to the S. W. The North Bii-d 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, presenting many enormous detached 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 appearance 

 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, and from which it gradually slopes to the southerly end, where 

 it is from 80 to 100. 



The sides are nearly vertical, the siunmit 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 com- 

 posed of rounded stones. The easterly one, on the contrary, is very 

 rough and covered by irregular blocks, many of large size and still an- 

 gular, 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 



PROCEEDINGS B. S. N. H.— VOL. VIII. 5 MAY, 1861. 



