iSSS.] Lucas on the Bird Rocks of the Gulf of St. Laxvretice. I^^C 



The top of the Pillar was closely jDacked with breeding Gan- 

 nets, while here and there a few were dotted along its sides. As 

 this isolated rock is not particularly easy to reach, these birds, 

 together with a considerable colony of Murres, probably succeeded 

 in raising their young, although their number was small com- 

 pared with the number that might have been raised on the 

 Little Rock had it not been swept clean by the fishermen. Three 

 young Gannets, varying in age from one to three days, were 

 secured from the sloping side of the Pillar, these, according to 

 Mr. Turbid, the lightkeeper, being the first of the season, as the 

 Gannet's period of incubation is much longer than that of the 

 other birds breeding in company with it. 



A visit to Great Bird Rock showed it to be the real breeding- 

 ground of the birds, Gannets, Murres, Razorbills, and Pufiins 

 being both abundant and tame in spite of the fact that they are 

 subjected to continual persecution. 



No Gannets were seen on the Labrador coast east of Mingan, 

 and none on the eastern coast of Newfoundland. At the time of 

 Cartier there seems to have been a colony of these birds on Funk 

 Island, and if one may credit the testimony of the fishermen, they 

 were breeding there thirty years ago. But after the extermina- 

 tion of the Great Auk the fishermen and eggers seem to have 

 done their best to extirpate the remaining denizens of this isolated 

 spot, and it may well be that the Gannets were as efiectually 

 annihilated as the unfortunate Garefowl. Certain it is that no 

 Gannets are to be found on Funk Island to-day, and but compar- 

 atively few Murres and Razorbills. Twenty years ago one boat 

 took away eleven barrels of eggs on one trip ; this year it is 

 much to be doubted if (aside from the Puffins) there have been 

 two barrelfuls laid on the island. Gannets are peculiarly liable 

 to extermination from the pertinacity with which they cling to 

 their old established breeding places ; for once they have made 

 a spot their home nothing short of complete destruction seems 

 to drive them from it; and while there are many islands in the 

 Gulf of St. Lawrence which would furnish suitable nesting-places 

 for them, yet, year by year, they return to Bonaventure Island 

 and Bird Rock. 



