69 



the nests were arranged in single lines, nearly or quite touching one 

 another ; on the summit, at regular distances one from the other of 

 about three feet. Those on the ledges were built entirely of sea-weed 

 and other floating substances ; on the summit of the rock they were 

 raised on cones, formed of earth or small stones, about ten inches in 

 height and eighteen in diameter when first constructed, presenting, at 

 a short distance, the appearance of a well-hilled potato field. I saw 

 no nests built of zostera, or grass, or sods ; the materials were almost 

 entirely fuci, though anything available was probably used ; in one 

 case the whole nest was composed of straw, and in another, the 

 greater part of manila rope-yarn. 



The nests on the summit of the Great Bird were never scattered, 

 but ended abruptly in as regular a line as a military encampment. 

 Through the midst of the nests were several open spaces, like lanes, 

 made quite smooth by the continued trampling of the birds, which 

 seemed to be used for play-grounds ; these generally extended to 

 the brink of the precipice, and reminded me very much of the sliding 

 places of otters. 



The birds were feeding principally on herring, but also on capelin 

 filled with spawn, some fine-looking mackerel, a few squids, and, in 

 one instance, a codfish weighing at least two pounds. The s^face 

 was swarming with a species of staphylinus that subsisted on the fish 

 dropped by the birds. Occasionally, a nest could be seen in which 

 the single egg had not been deposited, and perhaps one, in two or 

 three hundred, with a newly laid one ; on all the rest the Gannets were 

 already sitting, and though none of the eggs were as yet hatched, 

 many of them contained fully formed chicks. On being approached 

 the birds manifested but slight symptoms of fear, and could hardly be 

 driven from their nests ; occasionally one more bold would actually 

 attack us. Their number on the summit could be very easily and 

 accurately determined by measuring the surface occupied by them ; 

 by a rough computation I made it to be about fifty thousand pairs, 

 and probably half as many more breed upon the remaining portion 

 of the rock and on the Little Bird. 



All the birds I saw were in adult plumage, differing in this respect 

 from those breeding in the Bay of Fundy, where many were young 

 birds. The egg of the American bird has not, I think, been described. 

 Audubon was unable, on account of the weather, to ascend the rock, 

 and I think his description was without doubt taken from a European 

 specimen. 



In shape and general appearance the egg is more like that of 

 the brown Pelican than of any other Xorth American bird, and it is 

 sometimes stained with blood, as that commonly is. The cretaceous or 

 calcareous coating is thicker than it is on the egg of any other bird 

 that I am acquainted with, and *it is very generally marked with 



