282 Lucas, Notes on the Great Auk. [J"ly 



through the Strait of Belle Isle, and thence southward, we learn 

 from the latitudes now and then given that on June 35 he 

 must have been somewhere in the vicinity of the Bird Rocks. 



Fortunately, too, there is a reference to the Island of Brion, 

 o-iving its direction and distance from the lies des Margaulx, 

 which is alone sufficient to identify the spot, as they harmonize 

 with existing facts. Brion Island, like Blanc Sablon and Chateau 

 Bay, has retained its name unchanged while so many others have 

 either been renamed or have had their original appellation so 

 anglicized as to be quite unrecognizable. 



Final confirmation of the locality is found in the Gannets (Mar- 

 gaulx) themselves, whose descendants with true conservative 

 spirit still 'cling to their historic stronghold, and although they 

 no longer exist in such numbers that the rocks "though red seem 

 white," they still bite as savagely as in the days of yore. 



Two more supposed breeding places of the Great Auk may be 

 considered here. Cape Cod and the Virgin Rocks. Of the latter 

 it will suffice to say that they lie three and one half fathoms under 

 water, while many evident reasons, such as the low, sandy char- 

 acter of Cape Cod and the adjacent islands, the proximity of 

 Indians, and the general northern range of the Alcidre on the 

 Atlantic coast, render the former locality more than doubtful. 



As for the bones found in shell heaps, they are probably those 

 of birds taken during their migrations southward, for the Great 

 Auk was doubtless formerly as common on the New England coast 

 during the autumn and winter months as the Razorbill is now. 



A word regarding the food of the Great Auk, and in sup- 

 port of the statement made by Fabricius that the lump-fish ( Cy- 

 clopterus lumpus) formed an important item in its bill of fare. 

 While the lump-fish is rather rough to look upon, the bones 

 are extremely brittle, and the strong beak of the Garefowl would 

 slice through the body of any specimen it might have captured, 

 as easily as the knife of the Eskimo does through the body of the 

 lump-fish he dries or freezes for his winter store. The young 

 lump-fish — and these would be most dainty morsels — keep near 

 the surface of the water and seek concealment in patches of float- 

 ing rock- weed where they would easily have been detected by the 

 keen eye of a sea fowl, while being but indifierent swimmers 

 there would be no safety in flight. 



This calls to mind the somewhat singular remark of Mr. Reeks 



