514 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1888. 



Islands, which lie about 3 miles from shore and 10 miles northwest of 

 Cape Freels. 



Passing Peckford Eeef, the Schoolmarm, and Scrub Eocks (nature is 

 very liberal with rocks and reefs in this part of the world), the Grampus 

 anchored at noon off two low, grassy islets, whose appearance was not 

 at all suggestive of an Alcine breeding place. Nor did careful exami- 

 nation reveal any traces of former habitation by the Great Auk, and 

 if the bird once dwelt here, he left nothing behind to indicate the fact, 

 for not a bone, nor even a speck of eggshell could be found. 



This is in marked contrast with the condition of affairs at Funk Is- 

 land, where, aside from the bones that the upturned sod shows every- 

 where present, the soil itself, thickly sprinkled with crumbled Qgg 

 shells, bears mute testimony to long years of occupancy by the Great 

 Auk. 



Still one of these islets may be that certain flat island where Captain 

 Eichard Whitbourne tells us men " drave the Penguins on a board into 

 their boats by hundreds at a time," although it must be said that this 

 and similar stories have rather an apochryphal ring to them. Certainl}^ 

 so easy a method of loading a boat with Garefowl, as that of putting out 

 a gang plank and driving them aboard like sheep, was not of common 

 occurrence at Funk Island, where the slope of the rock and wash of the 

 sea would render such a thing impossible. 



Although at the time of our visit it was remarkably calm, yet the boat 

 rose and fell along the cliff 4 or 5 feet at every heave of the swell, while 

 on the sloping rook, even to leeward, the sea came rolling in in a man- 

 ner fit to test the seaworthiness of a Great Auk, to say nothing of a 

 small boat. 



Whoever may have been the former residents of Penguin Islands, to- 

 day their most numerous inhabitants are field mice {Arvicola riparia), 

 which, if one may judge by the abundance of their burrows, exist in 

 almost incredible numbers, while well worn connecting paths cover the 

 ground in places with a veritable network. 



A little investigation showed that many of the deserted burrows, 

 possibly some recent ones also, had been taken possession of by breed- 

 ing j)etrels [Oceanodroma leucorrhoa) which were thus saved the trouble 

 of digging their own nesting places. 



A few Pufi&us {Fratercula aretica) are also found on the island, but 

 they seemed to have been no more successful than ourselves in finding 

 bones, for none lay scattered about the entrance to their holes. 



Taking into consideration the general character of the islets, the 

 thickness of the turf that covers them, their nearness to shore and the 

 absence of remains of the Great Auk, it seems at least doubtful if the 

 bird ever dwelt here, although the absence of remains is, it must be 

 said, negative evidence of but small value. 



If the Great Auk once bred in this vicinity. Offer Wadham, 9 miles 

 farther seaward, is much more likely to have been its habitat, but it 

 may be questioned if the bird was found there in historic times. 



