The Expedition to Funk Island, with Observations upon the

The Expedition to Funk

Island,

with Observations upon the History and Anatomy of the Great

A.uk.

By Frederic A. Lucas.

Note.—la 1885thewritei-suggested toProfessorBairdthedesirabilityofvisiting

Fuuk Islandfor the purpose of obtaiuiug remainsoftheGreat Auk, but inviewof the attendant expense and manydifBculties to besurmounted, the projectwasuot then carried out.

lu1887Professor Baird decidedtosend the U. S.FishCommissionschoonerGram- pustonortheasternNewfoundlandand Labradortoinvestigatethe truth of themany

reportsoftheabundanceofmackerelintheadjacent waters,andsincetheroutepro- posed wouldtake thevessel tothevicinityof Funk Island,the writerwasdetailed toaccompanythe expedition.

TheGrampusleftGloucester,Massachusetts,on July2,andreturnedto Wood'sHoll, Massachusetts,on September 2, having visitedthefollowingplaces: the Magdalen

Islands, Bird Rocks, St. Johns, Newfoundland^; Funk Island, Penguin Islands,off

Cape Freels; Seldom-Come-By, Fogo Island; Toulinguet, Canada Bay,Black Bay, Labrador;Mingau Islands, andPerc^,Canada.

Sofaras possible collectionswere madeattheselocalities, aqdwhileInmanythe faunawasexiremely scanty, the materialobtainedwas extremelyvaluable.

Thecollection ofbonesof theGreatAukobtained at Funk Islandequaledin ex- tentall other existing collections combined,and the opportunitywas afforded for thoroughlyexploringthisinterestingspotforthefirsttime.

ProfessorBairdneverknewof thecompletesuccessofthe expedition, andthesad intelligenceofhisdeath reached the partyatPort Hawkesbury,NovaScotia, while onitsreturn.

A.

—

The Bird Books and Funk Island

in 1887.

It is

now

about fiftyyears since the Great

Ank ^succumbed

to the incessant persecution of man, disappeared almost simultaneously from the shores of

Europe and

America, and

became

extinct.

Found

along the coast of

Newfoundland by

theearly explorers, the countless myriadsofthis flightless fowl

had

been hunted to the death with the murderous instincts

and

disregardfor the

morrow

so charac- teristicof the whiterace.

While

from astrictly utilitarian stand-point there

may

be no reason to

mourn

for the Great

Auk,

thenaturalistcan but regret its

wanton

destruction

and

deplore the lossof so interesting abird.

As

thebuffalocontributedto the openingofthe great West,

and

the Ehytina aidedin the exploration of the northwestcoast,theGreat

Auk

played its partin settlingNewfoundland, and

we may

derive

what

con- solation

we

can from Richard Whitbourne's dictum thut^{^^}

God made

the innocency of so poor a creature to

become

_{such an} admirable instrumentfor the sustentation of man."

493

494 REPOKT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM,

^1888.

The

earlynavigators, theFrenchfishermen

and

tlieEnglish colonists, each availed themselves to the utmost of the store of this sea-fowl which a (to the unfeathered bipeds) kindly Providence

had

placed at their disposal.

For

many

years the birds were used for provision, both fresh

and

salted,

and

probably for bait

by

the fishermen, but great as

was

the drain

made

on the birds for these purposes it seems unlikely that this alone would have caused ^their extermination in so shorta time, as the Great

Auk was

not such a delicacy that unusual eftbrts

would have

been

made

to obtain it.

The

trade in feathers

must

probably bedebited with having caused thedestruction of the species, for although there

seem

to beno data showing"

when

or

why

the

demand

for

Auk

feathersarose, there are ref-

erences toit in various

works

on Newfoundland, which seem to becor- roborated

by

the hundreds of thousands of

Auks whose

bodies were

left to molder on the heights of

Funk

^Island.

Cartier,

who

visited thisspotin1534,

makes

mentionofthe birdunder the

name

of

Apponath, and

in the chronicles of voyages from 1536 on- ward, it isfrequently spokenofunder the titleof Penguin.*

Thereis reason to believe that the Garefowl

was abundant

at Pen- guin Islands, off

Cape

^la

Hune,

on the southern coast of

Newfound-

land,

and

although itisdifficultto certainly identify this as theIsland of Penguins mentioned

by

Master Eobert Hore,there is in this case somethingin a name.

Names,

however,are

by

no

means

to berelied

upon

uidesssupported by other evidence,

and

there is great difficulty in definitely locating

many

ofthe places mentioned inthe early chronicles.

A

spotmightreceive several

names

from several difierent parties,or, as in the present instance, several places might be christened alike.

Again, it has frequently

happened

in

Newfoundland

that French

and

Portuguese

names have

been soaltered

by

theEnglishcolonistsastobe quite unrecognizable.

Thus Cape Eace

of to-day

was

originally

Cappa

Razza, theflatcape;

Cappa

Speranzahidesitsidentity underthecom- monplace

name

of

Cape

Spear,

and

Bai d' Espoiris hopelessly lost as

Bay

Despair.

However abundant

the Great

Auk may

have been elsewhere,

Funk

Islandseems to

have

been its chief breeding place,

and

here itdonbt-

*ThenamePenguinwasfirstapplied to theGreatAiik; itsapplicationtomembers

of theSpheniscidcBcameafterwards.

ThenameApponath,according toC^irtier,wasapplied bythe nativestoaspecies ofbird,supposablytheGreatAuk,thathe foundingreatabundanceatthe Ishind of Birds(PunkIsland).

Thesenativeswereverylikelythe Beothucs, although, makingdue allowance ^for the twists awordreceivesinbeing adoptedintoanewlanguage, thetermApponath mayhavecomefrom theEskimo wordagpa,an Auk.

The EskimofortheGreatAukwasisarokitsok, hethat has littlewings; ^forlittle auk,agparak.

EXPEDITION TO FUNK

ISLAND.

495

less lingered longafter it

had become

extirpated in other

and more

ac- cessible localities.

Lying

32 miles out in the Atlantic, environed by rocks

and

shoals, where the sea breaks heavily during storms, the vicinity of

Funk

Islandis by no

means

^attractive to the

modern

navi- gator,

and

of lateyears hasbeen seldom visited exceptby sealers,par- tiesof eggers,

and

occasional fishermen.

The

sailors of old

and

the hardy colonists

seem

to have habitually resortedto this spotfor supplies, partly because there were no charts to

warn them

of hidden perils,

and

partly forthe reason that supplies

must

be

had

atany risk.*

Therefore the

work

of slaying the Great

Auks went

steadily onuntil thelastof the species

had

disappeared fromthefaceof the earth,

and

the ])lace to which itresorted for untold ages

knew

it nomore.

With

few exceptionsnaturalists seem notto have been awareofthe fact that theGreat

Auk wa

> being exterminated until the catastrophe

had

actuallytaken place,

and

fewer still appear tohave thoughtofthe calamity as occurring in

America

as wellas in Europe.

Audubon,

who,by the way, wroteofthe birdat secondhand, saysin his work (publishedbetween 1839

and

1844)that theGreat

Auk

israre oraccidental onthe coast of Newfoundland,

and

is said by fishermen,

who

kill the

young

for bait, tobreed ona rockoffthe southeast coast of that island.

Thisspeaksofthe bird as rare,givingnohintthatit

was

thenlooked uponas extinct,butinthe "GloucesterTelegraph"for

August

7,1839, is

an articlefromthe "Salem Register" signed "

A

Fisherman," in which theGreat

Auk

is spokenofasbeingalready exterminated.

This paragraph which is interesting in thatit adds one

more

cause forthe exterminationof the birdtothosealreadj^

known,

isasfollows

:

Allthemackerel-men who arrive report the scarcity of thisfish,and atthesame timeInoticean improvementintakingthem with netsatCape Codandotherplaces.

Ifthisspeculation istogoon without beingcheckedor regulatedbytlieGovern- ment,will not these fish beas scarce on the coastas jjenguins are, whichwereso plenty before theRevolutionary

War

thatour fishermencould takethem withtheir gaffs? But duringthe war some mercenaryandcruelindividuals usedtovisitthe islandsontheeastern coast where werethe hauntsofthese birds for breeding,and takethemforthesake of thefat, whichtheyprocflredandthenletthebirds go.t

Thisproceedingdestroyed the wholerace.

The

Kev. William Wilson,

who

resided in

Newfoundland

asamission- aryfrom 1820 to 1834,

and who

once preached a sermon against the

*Thewriterhasnointention ofpicturingthedifiScnltyoflanding onFunkIsland intoodarkcolors. Itissimplya question of striking a favorable time, and while thedwelleronthe coastcan choosehistime, the chancevisitormust trust to Inck,

andluckiseveranuncertain element. Atthe time ofour visit lauding on "The Bench" wasa simple matter, althoughatanyother point a boatwould have been dashedtopiecesinthesurf; alittlelateranothercollector losta fortnightintrying tolaud,andthengaveitup.

tOflateyears thepenguinsofthe Antarctic Seas have been killed by sealersand

triedoutforoil.

496 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM,

^1888.

wanton

slaughter of the bird,* wrote of theGreat

Auk

ⁱⁿ 1864 that

"

Haifa

century ago the penguin

was

ver;^ plenty. * * *

The

pen- guinis

now

but seldomseen; suchdestructionofthe bird

was made

for the sakeofits feathers thatit is

now

all butextinct.t

The

exact derivation of the

word

penguin

and

the date atwhich it

cauie into use is uncertain, although it occurs in the

"Voyage

of

M.

Hore

and diversother gentlemen to

Newfoundland and Cape

Breton in the yeere^1536." Professor

Newton

(than

whom

therecan be nobetter authority) considers it probable that penguin is derivedfrompiriwing, a

name

still

somewhat

used ⁱⁿ Newfoundland,

and

that this term

was

bestowed on the Great

Auk by

the English fishermen from the fact that the bird

was

asflightlessas ifpinwinged,in

more modern

parlance pinioned. This operation consistsin bending

down

the outer joint of the wing, as in plucked chickens, or in locking the wings together across the back.

Professor Steenstrup, on theother hand, believes the

word

to be of

Welch

origin,from^ew, white,

and

</u'^/i,head_;

and

although the

head

of Great

Auk

isnot white, yet thereis a large white spot just in front oftheeye ofsufficient size to warrant the appellation.

The

French pingoulnis oflaterdate thanpenguin

and was

probably derived from the English word,

and

thousrh the supposition that both

came

from the Spanish pingue, fat, meets with no favor from either Professor

Newton

or Professor Steenstrup, itis after all not without

some

slight

show

of reason.

The

fishermen of

Normandy,

Brittany,

and

the

Basque

provinces were the earliest to resort to Newfoundland,

and

thesewere on the ground as early as 1504, only seven yearsafterthe discovery of theisl-

and by

Cabot. In 1517 therewereforty Portuguese,French,

and

Span- ish vessels

engaged

in the codfishery;

and

in 1578, according to

Hak-

luyt, three

hundred and

fiftySpanish

and

Frenchvessels

and

onlyfifty English.

Thus

it

would

appear that there

was some

chanceof the Great

Auk

havingreceived itsoriginal

name

fromthe Spanishor

French

fishermen although the English speaking race has ever possessed the

happy

fac- ultyof forcing itslanguage

upon

all with

whom

^it

comes

incontact.

That

theGreat

Auk was

well

known

at

an

early dateis

shown by

AnthonieParkhurst's statement, writtenin 1578,that "the

Frenchmen who

^fish neere thegrandbaie,|doebring smallstoreoffleshwiththem, butvictuall themselves with these birds" (penguins).

The

extermination ot the Great

Auk

took place sosuddenly thata comparatively small

number

of skins, skeletons,

and

eggs were pre- served in

museums,

and in America,

where

the garefowl

had

been

most

abundant, scarcea specimen existed.

*Given ontheautliorityofMr. GeorgeA. Boardman.

tNewfoundlaud aud itsmissionaries,byRev. William Wilson. Cambridge,1866.

tProbably theGulf ofSt. Lawrence, as ourownfishermen ^stillspeakofthis as

"TheBay."

EXPEDITION TO FUNK

ISLAND.

497 The

U.S.National

Museum

possessedastuffedspecimen aiidanegg, butin going over theosteological collection a single

humerus

of the Great

Auk was

all that couldbefound,

aud

eveu this

was

from a

New

England

shellheap. In the spring of 1885 the writer suggested the great desirability ofsecuring, if possible, other bonesof this extinct bird, which could doubtless be found on

Funk

Island, where Profesvsor Milne had secured a

number

duringa briefvisit in 1874. This sugges- tion

met

with the approval of Professor Baird, but

some

correspond- ence with theHev. M. Harvey, ofSt. John's, Newfoundland,

made

evi-

dent thefactthatinordertoinsurethesuccess ofanexpeditionto

Funk

Island son]e naturalist should

accompany

the party,

aud

thatsuch a

trip wouldentail the expenditure ofconsiderable time

and

money.

So

the matter rested until the year of 1887,

when

^it

became

apparent that tbe

work

ofthe U. S. FishCommission would

make

itdesirable for the schooner Grampiis to visitthecoastof

Newfoundland and

Labrador,

and

the question ofvisiting

Funk

Island was referred to Captain Col- lins.

The

undertaking

met

with the approval of Captain Collins,

who by

indorsing the enterprise at the outset,

aud by

cordial co-operation throughoutthe resulting trip,ensured thecomplete success of the ex- pedition.

It

was my

good fortune to be detailed to

accompany

the Grampus, primarily tocollect remainsof theGreat

Auk, and

also to secureas

much

other anatomical material as might be obtainable.

As

the proposedroute wouldtake thevessel to

some

localities where

littlecollecting

had

been done, Mr. William

Palmer was

also detailed for the trip.

He

devoted himself especially to the birds

and

his inter- estingobservationsappear elsewhere.

A ^more

harmonious party probably never cruised together,

and

to this,

and

to the fact that the rig

and

equipment of the

Grampus

fitted her perfectlyforthe

work

in hand,

may

be attributed the success of the voyage.

The

middle of

June was

thedateset forsailing, butowingto circum- stances tbe

Grampus

did not leave Gloucester until July _2, a delay, however, that proved to be forthe best, as the

summer

of 1887

was

unusually

backward

in the GulfofSt. Lawrence.

The

Bird

Eocks

of the Gulf of St.

Lawrence

was the first place set

down

for avisit, but as wind and sea were then too high for landing July 8was passedat Grindstone Island, ofthe

Magdalen

group, where a few birds werecollected.

The

only

mammal

seen

was

a

young

seal {Phoca vitulina),

and

it is difficult to realize that the

Magdalen

Islands were ouce theseat of a flourishingwalrus fishery,

and

thatthousandsof these

huge

beastswere annually slaughtered along theirbarren shores.

Molineux Shuldham, writing in 1775, speaksof the walrus as being found on the Magdalens, St. John's Island,

and

Anticosti, and the

H. Mis. 142, pt. 2 3^

498 KEPOKT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM,

1888.

animal

was

oecasionally seen in the gulf during tiie first part of the present century.

A

^{little after}noon on July 9

we came

to anchoroffthe Bird Rocks, a spot fullof interestboth tothe naturalistand historian, fortbese little islets were resortedto for supplies

by

theold navigators,

and we

find

them

several times mentionedin

Hakluy

t'sVoyages,first,sofarasI

am

aware, by Jacques Cartierin June, 1534.

Carrier'saccount runs thus:

Theuextday being the 25 of the moueth, the weatherwas alsostormie,darke, audwindy,butyet we^sailed a part of the day towardwest-northwest, and in the eveningweeputourselvesathwartuntillthesecond quarter; when,aswedeparted, then didwe byour compasse knowthat wewere northwest bywest about seven leaguesaud anhalfefromtheCapeof S.John, andaswee were about tohoisesaile thewindturned intothenorthwest,wherefore weewentsoutheastabout15leagues, and cameto three Hands,two of which areas steepeand upright asanywall, so thatitwasnotpossible toclimbethem, andbetweene themthereisalittlerocke.

TheseHands wereasfull of birdsasanyfield ormedow is ofgrasse, whichthere domaketheir uestes, audinthe greatest ofthemtherewasa greatandinfinitenum- berot thosethatwecallMargaulx, that arewhiteandbiggerthananygeese,wliich wereseveredin onepart. In the otherwere onely Godetz,but toward the shoare therewere ofthose GodetzandgreatApponatz like tothose of that iland that we above have mentioned.

We

wentdowuetothe lowest part of theleast iland where wekilledabove a thousandof thoseGodetz and Apponatz.

We

putintoourboates somanyofthemaswepleased, forin lessethan one hourewe might havefilledthirtie such boats of them.

We

named themtheHandsofMargaulx.*

Charles Leigh's accountof his visit in 1597 isas follows

:

The14 (ofJune)we cametothetwoIslands ofBirds,some23leaguesfromMene- go,wheretherewere suchabundanceof birdsasisalmostincredibleto report. And uponthelesseof these Islands ofBirds we sawgreat storeof morssesorsea-oxen, which werea sleepeupon the rocks, butwhen weapproached uere untothemwith our boate theycastthemselves into the seaand pursueduswith such furieasthat

weweregladtofleefrom them. The 16we arrivedatBrian's Island, whichlyeth5 leagues westfromthe Island ofBirds.!

And

alittle furtheron

we

find

him

tellingus that

—

Thegreatest of theseislandsisabouta mileincompasse. Thesecondislittlelesse.

Thethirdisaverylittleone, likea small rocke. Atthesecondof thesethi'eeJayon the shoreinthesunshine aboutthirty or fortysea-oxen or morses, which, when ^our

boatcamenerethem, presently madeintothesea, andswam aftertheboat.t

That

Cartier's "Isles des

Margaulx"

are the Bird

Rocks

of to-day seemsunquestionable, although no locality atall can be found by fol-

lowingthe courses

and

distances given as having beensailed on

June

24

and

25, 1534.

But

by following Cartier northward from

Buena

Vista, through the Straitof Belle Isle,

and

thence southward,

we

learn from the latitudes

*Hakluyt's "Collection ofVoyages." London, 1600, Vol. in,p. 205.

tIlakluyt,Vol. hi, p. 242.

iHakluyt,Vol. in,\}. 249. This hastheappearanceofbeingarevisionof thefirst account,written either much later or by a better scholai than the writer Qf the descriptiononp.242.

EXPEDITION TO FUNK

ISLAND,

499 now and

then given thaton

June

²⁵ he

must

have been

somewhere

in thevicinity of the Bird Eocks.

Itisalso difficult to resist the temptation of suggesting that there has beena mistakein translating Cartier's ^log,

and

that " 15 leagues southeast" shouldbe15 leagues southwest. Thisis certainlyasome-

what

radical change,but thedifierence between sudest

and

sudouestis

notverygreat tothe eye,

and

the translator might easily

have

gone astraythere.

Moreover

why

Oartier should

have

run deadbefore the

wind

to the eastward

when

heseemsto have beentryingto

work

to the westward, andcouldhaveheldhis

own

simply

by

keepingthewind abeam,israther strange.

Finally,if he

was

seven

and

a half leaguesnorthwest

by

west from

some

point on the west coast ofNewfoundland, a run of 15 leagues southeast would have carried

him plump

ashore,

owing

to the great

amount

of westerly variation.

In thisconnectionI desire toexpress

my

indebtednesstothe courtesy of

Commander

J. E. Bartlett, Chief of theHydrographicOffice,

and

to Mr. G.

W.

Littlehales, of the Division of Chart Construction, forvery kindly supplying

me

with the necessary datafor solving thisproblem.

Fortunately,too, thereisa referencetothe island of Brion,givingits

distance anddirection fromthe liesdes Margaulx,

and

thisisalonesuf- ficientto identifythe spot,as theyharmonize with existingfacts.

BrionIsland, like Blanc Sablon

and

Chateau

Bay

(the

Bay

ofCastles in Hakluyt),has luckily retained its

name

unchanged, whileso

many

otherplaceshaveeitherbeen re-namedorhadtheir originalappellations anglicized out of existence.

Furtherconfirmationisfoundinthe

Margaulx

themselves,these birds,

"whichbite even asdogs," being gannets, whose descendants,in spite of centuries of persecution,

may

^still be found breeding wheretheir ancestors did before them. Ordinarily the presence^or absenceof

any

given species of bird might seem of small value as a factor in the identification of alocality, but the gannetis extremely critical in the choice of a breedingplace,

and

extremely pertinaciousinclingingtoit

when

once selected.

Once

established, nothing shortof complete destruction appearsto drive them away,

and

unlesscarefully protected this curiouslyconserv- ativespirit willeventuallyresult inextermination.

Thus, while there are

many

points along the coastfrom

Maine

to Lab- rador wherethe Gannets mightbreed, they arefound,so far as ^I have beenableto ascertain, only at three places, an island in the

Bay

of

Fundy,

the Bird Eocks

and

Bonaventure Island atPerce, Canada, the colony at

Mingan

being too small

and

too nearly exterminated to be taken into consideration.^*

*Dr. Stejuegertellsluethatthe same thing occurs inEurope,where theGannets crosstheNorth Sea to breed on the Scottish coast, although there arenumerous favorablelocalitiesonthe coast ofNorway.

500 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM,

^1888.

ThatOartier'sdescription of theislands does not quite accord with theirpresentappearanceis notto be

wondered

at.

The

material of which they are

composed

^isasoft, decomposing red sandstone that

succumbs

so easily to the incessant attacks of the sea that Dr. Bryant'sdescriptionof

them

in 1860does not holdgood today.

If, then, the Bird

Kocks

have undergonevisible changes in twenty-five years, itis easy toimagine

how

great arethealterationsthey

may

have undergone during three

and

a half centuries.

Dr. Bryant, in 1861, wroteas follows:*

These(the BirdRocks)aretwoin miiuber, calledthe GreatBird orGanuetRock, aud the Little or North Bird; they are abonfc three-quartersof a mile apart, the water betweenthemveryshoal,showingthat, at no verydistantepoch,theyformed asingle island. ^{* * *} TheNorthBird ^ismuch the smallest andthoughthebase

ismoreaccessible,thesummitcannot,Ibelieve,bereached;at leastIwasunableto doso; it is the mostirregular in its outline,presentingmany enormous, detached fragments,and^is dividedin oneplaceinto two separate islands athighwater, the northerlyone several times higherthanbroad,so as to present the appearanceof a huge rockypilliir.

Gaunet Rock^isa quarter of a milein its longestdiameterfromSW. toNE. The highest point of the rock^isatthe northerly end, where, accordingtothechart, it is 140 feethigh, audfrom which^it gradually slopes to the southerly end, where it is

from80to 100.

Thesidesare nearlyvertical,thesummitin manyplacesoverhanging. Thereare

two beaches at its baseon the southerlyand westerlysides,themostwesterlyone comparatively smooth and composedofroundedstones.

The easterly one,on the contrary, is veryrough and coveredby^irregularblocks,

many^{of largesize}andstillangular,.showingthat theyhavebutrecentlyfallenfrom thecliffsabove.

Thisbeachisverydifficulttolandon, butthe other presentsnogreatdifficultyin ordinaryweather; the top of the rock can not,however, be reached fromeitherof them. The only spot from which at present the ascent can be made istherocky pointbetweenthetwobeaches.

It

was

on this point,

by

the way, that

Audubon's

son lauded

June

14, 1833.

The

Great

Rock

has apparently altered but little during the past twenty-fiveyears, but such changes as have taken place have tended toimprovethe characterofthe southerly beach,which has beenselected

by

the keeper of the light-house for the customary landing place.

Two

long ladders, bolted to therock

and

leading to the

summit

have been erected.

The

westerlybeach is, however, the most accessible,

and

it is here that the heavy light-house supplies are landed, a large hoisting appa- ratushaving beenplaced atthe top of theoverhanging^cliff.

Ifthe Great

Rock

isbutlittlechanged,itslesser relativehassuffered greatly, sea

and

frost, rain

and

icehaving

wrought

sad havoc ^{with it,} splittinggreatfragments from thesides sothat a landing onceeffected it is

now

an easy matter to reach the top.

*RemarksousomebirdsthatbreedintheGulfofSt.Lawrence, by HenryBryant M.p. Proc. Bos.^Soc.Nat. Hist.,Vol.VIII, 18Gl-'6^,pp.^65-75.

EXPEDITION TO FUNK

ISLAND.

501

Landing' can hardly be called easyin any but tlie finestofweather, buton the afternoon ofourvisit

we

were favored with a calm,and suc- ceeded in beaching- our boat on the southerlyside withoutdifficulty, ])ossibly on the

same

spot where nearly threecenturies before Charles Leigh found a herdof

huge

walrusesbasking inthesun.

The

Little

Rock

isabout75yardslong

and

perhaps 50feet in height.

Itisdivided into twoportions

by

awide cleft,thatseems from thecon- dition of the fallen rocksto beofcomparativelyrecentorigin,

and

it is

only a question oftime

when

there shall betwoislets insteadof one.

Twenty-fiveyards from the eastern point lies the little rocky pillar

mentionedby Dr.Bryant,butthisis

now

separatedfrom theLittle

Rock

even at low ^tide, although if one does not

mind

cold water

and

slip-

pery rocks, It is then an easy matter to

wade

across the connecting ledge.

About midway

between theGreat

and

Little

Rocks

is a shoal which

may

possibly

mark

the site of the little rock mentioned

by

Cartier, although the islet, that for lack of a

name may

^{be called} thePillar, agrees sufficiently well with the description.

Ithas been consideredprobable that theGreat

Auk

once bred here,

and

thatthis

was

the bird Cartier calls the Great Appouatz. True, a few

may

have strayed here from the colonyatPenguin Island,off

Cape

la Hune,* butthis,from the clannishhabits of thebird,seemsdoubtful.

Besides the area availablefor breeding purposes islimited to a narrow

strip on the northeastern point,

and

a still

more

restricted portion on the southern side, these being theonly places accessible to aflightless bird like the Garefowl.

Mr. Grieve suggests in a recent letter that in former times the space atthebaseofthe Little liock

was much more

extended thanat present, since Oartier'screw " killedabovea thousand of theseGodetz and

Ap-

pouatz" ^"on the lowest part of theleast island."

This supposition

may

wellbecorrect,yet careful observationof the rock

and

thedepth ofwater immediately about it leads totheconclu- sion that the changes it

may

have undergone have been the result of thefalloffragmentsfromtheoverhangingsidesratherthanthe wearing

away

of thebase.

Charles Leigh

makes

no mention ofPenguins atthe time of hisvisit in 1597, although it seems probable that hewould have done so

had

they been there.

On

the other hand, theBird

Rocks

agreeinlocationwith the"Island of Penguin," mentioned by Silvestre

Wyet,

shipmaster of Bristol, in 1594, ''which lyeth south from the easternmost part of Natiscotec (Anticosti)

some

twelve leagues.

From

the island of

Penguin wee

shapedour coursefor

Cape

de

Rey and had

sightof the Island of

Cape

Briton."

*Thepresence of theGreatAukat the Cape la Hune, Penguin Islands, is very largely presumptive, positiveevidencetothateffectbeinglacking.

Theymay be the islandsmentioned by M. Hore, ortiiey maynot.

502 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM,

^1888.

Ifthe Godetz

and Appoaatz

were

Murres aud

Razor-bills it

would

haverequired but a comparativelysmall extent ofclifffor theiraccom- modation, for atthis early date every available inch of

room must

have been occupied.

The

top of the Little

Rock was

covered witha thin deposit ofguano,

marked

with

many

shallow, saucer-likedepressions where the G-annets

had made

their nests, but not a single

egg

of thisspecies

was

to be seen,

and

the few eggs of the

Murre and

Razor-bill that were subse- quently found

had

evidently been overlooked

by

the fishermen

who

resort to this rock for supplies,

and who had made

a clean

sweep

of everything within reach.

A

few Kittywakes

had

literally rearedtheir

young

on the southern

side,

and

undertheoverhangingcliffon the northwest asmall

number

of Murres, Razor-bills,

and

Pufltius were breeding.

Careful search brought to light a few eggs

and

nestlings,

some

of these latter so carefully concealed

among

thebowlders that but for their incessant peeping they

would

have been passed by.

The

top of thepillar

was

closelypackedwithbreeding Gannets, while afew were sprinkled along the sides.

As

this rock is

somewhat

diffi- cultofaccess thesebirds, together with a small colony of

Murres and

Razor-bills, probably succeededinraising their young.

From

thisspot three

young

Grannets were obtained, thesebeing thefirstofthe season, accordingto Mr. Turbid, the light-keeper,

who most

kindlygave usall

the aid

and

informationin his power.

The

Great

Rock

is the real breeding place of the birds. Gannets, Murres, Puffins,

and

Razor-billsbeing both

abundant and

tame,in spite of thefactthattheyaresubjectedtocontinual persecution.

The

birds do not

seem

to be divided into colonies according to species,

Gan-

nets

and Murres

being found in juxtaposition,

and

although the Gannets preferthe upperledges,yettheir distribution isto agreat ex- tent regulated

by

the width of therocky shelves, the

Murres

taking possession where there is not sufficient

room

to

accommodate

their largercompanions. Thereis, however, a tendencyofbirdsofafeather to flocktogetherin littlegroupsofadozenor two,

and

ata distance the

cliffsappear

seamed

with white,

owing

to the long lines of j)erchiug Gannets.

The

top of theGreat

Rock

is

now

^entirely deserted

by

all birds ex- cept thelittleLeach'sPetrels,

who burrow

in security

among

thefrag- ments ofstone thateverywhere

show

through the shallow soil.

Itisevidentfrom the accounts of previousvisitors that theinterest- ing colonyattheBird

Rocks

has

become

sadly diminished innumbers.

At

the timeof Oartier's visit, every inch of available space seems to have been occupied

by

breeding birds,

and

in 1597 Charles Leigh said

" the three islands of birds are sandyred, but with the multitude of birds

upon them

they lookewhite.

The

birdssitthereasthicke as stones

liein a

paved

street."

EXPEDITION TO FUNK

ISLAND.

503 At

the time ^of Autlubou's visit in 1833 he

compared

the effectofthe birds, seeu from a distance lioveiing-over the snmmit, toa heavy fall

of snow.

The Gannets

were then largely used for bait

by

the fishermen of

Bryon

Island, no less than forty boats being supplied from the Bird Rocks, and

Audubon

relates

how

a party of six killed with clubs five

hundred

and

forty birdsin less than an ^hour.

In 1860 Dr. Bryantestimated the

number

ofGannetsbreeding ontlie

summitof the Great

Rock

alone at50,000 pairs, the total

number

at 75,000 pairs, although these figures arevery likelytoo ^high.

In 1872,

owing

totbe erection of the light-house, the colony on top of the rock had

become

reduced ^to 5,000,

and

in 18S1 Mr.

Wm.

Brew- sterfound thattheGannets had been^{entirely driven} from the summit, although theLittle

Rock was

^{still densely populated.}

He

places the total

Gannet

population of tbe rocks at 50,000, which is still an ex- traordinary andimpressive number, although

much

lessthanthefigures of previousobservers.

In 1887, onlysixyears later, not a single

Ganuet

bred onthe Little Rock, although perhaps a

hundred and

fifty

may

have found nesting places on the ^Pillar, while according to

M.

Turbid not

more

than ten thousand dwelt onthe ledges of the Great Rock.

Besides the Bird

Rocks

the only largecolony ofGannets inthe Gulf of St.

Lawrence

isatBonaveuture Island,ontheCanadiancoast,where,

on

the lofty

and

vertical cliffs of the eastern side (250 feethigh),these birdsbreedinastateof semi-security. Dr.Bryantinadvertentlylocates this colony at Perce, or

Arch

Rock, but although this curious

and

inaccessibleislet is onlya mileor so distant, and the birdsbreeding on

its

summit

are perfectly safe,not a single

Ganuet

is tobe found

among

them.

Here,too, the

number

ofGannets has greatly diminished,

and when

later on

we

visited Bonaventure Captain ^{Collins expressed} surprise at the

marked

decreasein theirnumbers. Thatthiscolony ever

compared

in extent with that at the Bird

Rock

is very doubtful, although Dr.

Bryant statesthatitis "perhaps even

more

remarkable."

A

^few Gannets were found atPerroquet Island ofthe

Mingan

group, inspite ofthe incessant persecution ofthe Indians

who

regularly

make

aclean sweep there. In 1860 Dr. Bryant predicted that the locality would soon be deserted, but in 1881 Mr. Brewster foundseveral hun- dred birds stillthere, although shortly after his visitthe Indians took everyegg.

No

Gannets wereseen eastofMingan,

and

none on the eastern coast of Newfoundland, although in the time of Cartier there seems tohave been a colony of these birdson

Funk

Island, where, ifone

may

^credit

thetestimony offishermen,they were ^stillbreedingthirtyyears ago.

The same

decrease ofGannets seems tobe taking place elsewhere,

and

Professor

Newton

tells

me

thatat

Lundy

IslandintheBristolChan-

504 EEPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM,

^1888.

iiel, the onlyBritish locality

where

thisbirdisfoiiiul, therewerein1887 buta dozen ^{pairs left.}

The

decrease of Ciaunets attheBird

Rocks

is the

most

perceptible owing- totheirsize, but the smallerbirds

have

doubtless suffered in the

same

proportion. Scarce a

day

passesduring tineweather without a

visit from fishermen in search of eggs or Murres, theselatter being used forfood

and making

a not unpalatable stew.

Many

barrelsofeggsare gathered during the season,

and

altogether thebirds lead rather a precarious existence. Still a large jiortionof the Great

Rock

is practically inaccessible,

aud

unless the feather hunt- ersafflict this interesting spot with their j^resencethe birds

may

con- tinue tobreed herein diminished

numbers

for long years to come.

The

extermination of birds islargely a question of sentiment, but these sea-fowl existinsuch

numbers

that they play a not unimportant partinsupplyingfoodtotheresidentsof the gulf

and

coast ofLabrador,

and

hencetheir extirpationisto be doubly deplored.

There^isalawregulatingthetaking of eggs,

aud

ifthiswereobserved, orcouldbe strictlyenforced, alarge

number

of eggs could Ijegathered annually while atthe

same

time the

number

of birds would steadily in- crease.

But

in a region so thinly peoi)led as the coasts of Labrador

and

the gulf,

game

laws are difficulttoenforce

and

each partyoffisher-

men

acts onthe principlethat it isuseless toleave

what

the nextvisitor willbe sure to take.

Mr. Turbid, however,

who

has resided on the Great

Rock

as light- keeper since 1880, states thatlatterlythe birds areon the increase

and

that inthe lasteight years the

Murres

have doubled in numbers, the Gannets increased one-third,

and

the other birds from onequarter to one-third. Mr. Turbidalso toldus thatthe

Murres

were

becoming

used to the fog-gun,whichatthetime ofMr.Brewster's visit was, indirectly, asource of greatdestruction.

Ateach discbarge thefrigliteuedMnrresflyfrom the rock iuclouds,nearly every settingbirdtakingitseggintotheair between its thighsanddroppingitafterfly- ing afewyards. Thiswasrepeatedly observedduringourvisit,andmorethan once aperfectshowerofeggsfellintothe water around our boat. So seriouslyhadthe Murressuiferedfromthiscause thatmanyof the ledgesonthesideoftherock where thegun wasfiredhadbeensweptaimost clearof eggs.t

It

was

theintention to

have

visitedthe

Cape

la

Hune Penguin

Islands, butrough weather

made

this impracticable,

and

from the Bird

Rocks

the

Grampus went

direct to St. John's, Newfoundland.

Here we had

the pleasure ofmeetingthe Rev.

M.

Harvey,

who most

kindly gaveus

all the aid inhis power, and here Capt.

Dancan

Baxterjoined theves- selas

Newfoundland

pilot, although he alsorendered

most

efficientaid as acollector.

*

We

foundapartyontheLittleRockatthetimeofourvisit,andlater intheday anotherboat'screw landed onthe westerlybeachof theGreat Rock.

tBrewster, Proc.Bost. Soc.Nat.Hist.,Vol. xxii,p.410.

EXPLANATION OF PLATE

LXXI.

Sketch Mapof Funk Island.

Outline from British Admiralty Chart; details by F. A. Lucas; elevations by Capt.J.

W.

Collins.

Theshadedportion indicates the location ofremainsof theGreatAuk; intensity ofshade denoting correspondingabundanceof bones.

To anobserverontheisland, the easternandwesternpoints seemmore rounded thano-ivenonthechart.

ReportofNationalMuseum, 1888.

—

Lucas. Plate LXXI.

EXPEDITION TO FUNK

ISLAND.

505 During

ourstayatSt. Joliu's

we met

several flsherinen

who had

^vis-

ited

Fauk

Island oq egging expeditions, but

beyond

ascertaining the positionof tlie best landinglittle

knowledge was

gained, nothing con- cerning the character of thesoil,orthechancesfor

and

against securing remainsof the Great

Auk.

LeavingSt. John's on the

morning

of July 21,

we

sailed northward toward

Cape

Bonavista, aheadland that still bears its original appel- lation,followiugalmost exactly the track pursued

by

Cartier's vessels

more

than three centuries ago.

Daybreak

on themorningof the22d foundusinsightof

Funk

Island, but the

wind was

so light that notuntil noon were

we

near

enough

for aboat to"belowered

and

a start

made

for the shore.

But

twocollectors

had

visited

Funk

Island before us, Peter Stuvitz in 1841

and

Prof.J.

W.

Miluein1874,bothof

whom had

been compelled tocut short their stay

and

hasten back to theirvessels on account of threatening weather.

Warned by

theirexperience,it had beendecided to take ashore inthe first boat a

camping

outfit

and

provisions for sev- eraldays,sothatin the not impossible event of a fog or fresh breeze springing

up we

couldremainon theisland

and

proceedwith

work

while the

Grampus

soughtsafer quarters.

Accordinglythe dory set out with a load large

enough and

varied enough tohave started a small countrystore. Besides tent

and

tent poles, a

huge

flrkiu of provisions, and three breakers of water there were digging utensils of various descriptions, a

gun

and plenty of ammunition,buckets, baskets,rope, anchor,

and

a general wilderness ofrubber boots, coats,

and

southwesters.

We

were not, however, compelled to avail ourselves of these elabo- ratepreparations, forthe weather continued so fair that at night

we

returned to the Grampus,

and

although after sunset the wind freshened

and

next

morning

the weatherlooked decidedly threatening,the squalls passed over

and

gaveplaceto lightsoutherly breezes.

Viewing

theisland froma distance it had

seemed

possible with the faint air then stirring to beach a boat on the southerly slope; but closerapproachtransformed thenarrowlineoffoamandgently shelving rockintothe

wash

of a

heavy

swell on a steep

and

slippery slope of granite, whereon landing

was

quiteout of thequestion.

The

best landingisat a spot termed

"The

Bench," lyinga

hundred

. yards or so to the west of the northeastern or Escape Point,

and

toward this portion of the island,

where

from time immemorial

man had

landed todespoilthefeathered inhabitants,

we

directedourcourse.

The Bench

is anarrow path,

hewn by

nature inthe sideof alow, almostverticalcliff, leadingathigh tide fromthe water's edge to per- haps 20feetabove ^it.

At

the widest this path is 4 feet across, but from thatit tapers either

way

to nothing, terminating atthe upper end in a fissure just wide

enough

to

accommodate

one'sfoot, the rough granite furnishing a verygoodsubstitute forahand-rail.

506 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM,

^1888.

Below

^"the beucli" the rock descends almostvertically toa depthof 120feet beneath thesea, this combiuation of deep water

and

smooth, perpendicular rock offering noobstacle tochafe the seainto breaking, sothat with southerly winds, as at thetimeofourvisit, theswellmerely

rises

and

falls along the wallof rock.

With

northerly winds this landing of course is impracticable,

and

boats then seek a

more

precarious spotnear

Gannet

Head,on the south- west, whereStuvitz seems tohave landed in 1841.

Once

on " the bench^"it isan easy matterto reach the

summit

of the island, either

by

scrambling directly

up

theface of the rock or

by an

easierbut

more

^circuitous path, if pathitcan be called, leading from the fissurein which " the bench^"ends.

While

the height of

Funk

^Islandis put

down

on the chart at46 feet, itcertainly looksto be

much

higher, whetherseen from thedeck of a vessel orviewed from the eastern bluffs.

The

entireeastern end ofthe islandis very precipitous, asisalso the southwestern extremity, but

on

the northwest

and

along a lesser portion of the southern sidethe rock slopes gradually intothesea,

and

it

was

here that the Great

Auk

scrambled through the breakers to meetits fate.

The

greatest length of the island from east-northeast to west-south- westis abouthalf a mile,its breadth a quarter, these distances being set

down

in thesailing directionsas 800

and

400 yards.

Lyingrespectively 600

and

1,200 yards offthe westernpoint are

two

small, roundedislets, solowthatthey

must

becompletely

washed

over in rough weather,

and

consequently untenable as breedingplaces.

Two

faults, deepened

by

^{timeinto shallow valleys,} divide the island into three ridges running nearly east

and

west.

The

northern

and

centralof these are barerock, for the mostpart

smoothed and

rounded

by

^rain

and

ice, although here

and

there thedecompositionofthe feld- spar has formed curious, overhanging ledges, especially toward the eastern end.

Inthese depressions are

numerous

pools of brackish water, the

more

extensive

—

interspersed with patches that

may

be dignified

by

the

name

of

marsh —

lyingalong the line of the southernmost fault, which terminatesinasmall, natural amphitheater, floored withpebbles.

Growing

amidstthese pebbles were patches of a blue-floweringweed, around which white butterflies (Pieris) were sufflciently

numerous

to indicate thatthey were regularinhabitants of the island.

IndianGulch, the eastern termination of the northern fault,opens into this amphitheater from the sea

by

a narrow cleft, into which the swell rushesin a seething torrent of foam, emphasizing the

remark

of thesailing directions that "atall times the scend of the sea

would make

itunsafeforaboatin such narrowwaters."

A

large portion of the southern

and

mostextensive swell ofrockis

EXPEDITION TO FUNK

ISLAND. ^'

507

thicklycovered with vegetation*, this, theformer breedingground of the Great

Auk,

being

mapped

out invivid green

by

the plants nour- ished by the

decomposed

bodies

and

slowlydecomposing bonesof the long extinctbird.

It would seemthat the

Auk

Inhabitedeveryaccessible footofground, theinabilityof the bird to flyrestrictingitofnecessity to such portions oftheisland ascould bereached aftera landing

had

beeneffected on the northerly or southerlyslope.

Any

abruptrise ofsmooth rock, although comparativelylow, would interposean insurmountablebarrier tofurther progress,

and

from the character of the rock

and

total absence of bones, itdoes not

seem

that the

Auk

ever passed

beyond

the southernmost line of fault, or even reached the eastern part of theisland.

Here

the

Auk

bred in peace for ages, undisturbed

by man

t until thatfateful day in June, 1534,

when

Cartier's crews inaugurated the slaughter that terminated only with the existence of the Great

Auk.

Here

to

day

thebonesofmyriadsofGarefowllieburiedintheshallow

soilformed above theirmoldered bodies,

and

here, in this vastAlcine cemetery, are thickly scattered slabsofweatheredgranite,like so

many

crumbling tombstones markingtherestingplacesof thedeparted Auks.

Itisrathercurious that these blocksof stone shouldbe found on this part of theisland,just where they

would

be

most

needed

by

man, but for

some

reason the rock seems to weather into slabs

more

on the southernrisethan elsewhere. Itis also an interesting coincidence, to say the least, that Robert

Hore and

another of the old navigators speak ofPenguin Island as"very full of rocks

and

stones,"although theiraccounts

seem

to refer to

Cape

la

Hune, Penguin

Islands, rather thanto

Funk

Island.

*Thefollowing plantshavebeen recordedfromFunkIsland.

*Poa annuaL.

Common

inwetplaces. *CochhaHaofficinalisL. Amongpebbles

*Glyceria wariiuoa Wahl.

Common

in atheadofIndianGulch.

wetplaces. tCochlearia fenestrata.

*Senecia vulgaris L.

Common

in wet ^*Cceloplenrum (/meliniLed.

places. tHalosciasseoticum.

tPlantagomaritivia. Alongponds. tRiimex.

*RanunculusliyperboreusRotlb. *CJienopodiumalbumf

*Stellariamedia. ^*Bynumknowltoni; sp.nov.

Thoseprecededbyan asterisk (*)werecollectedbyMr.William Palmer, andthose precededbythedagger(t) were notedbyProfessor Milne.

Itisalittlecurious thatbutasingle specieswasobservedbybothnaturalists,the morethat Professor Milnewasontheisland buthalfan hoarandMr. Palmer parts oftwodays.

tApaddleand remainsof canoesare said tohave been foundhere, aswellasstone arrowheads, andthiswould indicatevisitsfrom the Indians. Professor Milnecon- siders thisdoubtful,owingtothe indiffereutseagoingqualitiesof theBeothuccanoes.

Thereseems,too, noreason whythey should incur theriskof visiting thisislandso faratseawhenplenty of sea fowl couldbeobtained nearerhome. Still,iftheremains actuallywerefound,theycould scarcelyhavecomeherebyaccident.