Great Auk Notes

2'7o Lucas, Nofcson the GreatAiik. [Ju'y

GREAT AUK NOTES.

RV FREDERIC

A. I.UCAS.

Ornithologists owe

a debt of gratitudeto Professor

New-

tonand Mr. Grieve fortheircontributions tothe historyof tiie

Great

Auk,

and for their hibors in collecting and rendering accessible to Englisli and

American

readers the substance of

many

scatteredpapers by foreign writers.

Well

as tiieirwork- has been

done

afew errors, here and there, havecreptin,and in correctingthem,asthe)^

come up

inconnection with

some

of the points herein discussed, the writertruststhathe

may

not

seem

ungracious, for few have probably studied the writings of the

above-named

gentlemen with

more

pleasure and profit than himself.

To

Professor

Newton

belongsthe creditof calling attention to the fact that the range of the Great

Auk was much more

re- stricted than

was

generally supposed, and that the bird never evenvisited

many

of thelocalities in

which

it

was

once thought tohavel^red.

Itis

my own

beliefthat, in historic timesat least, the

number

of places resorted to bythe Great

Auk

for breeding purposes

was

comparativelysmall, partly from theinabilityof the birdto fly,but

more

from oneof those unknosvn reasons

which

impel

some

animals to select for their

homes

only oneor

two

out of

many

possiblesites.

We

^{have a} striking

example

of this in the Gannet, a bird

whose powers

offlightare exceptionally great,and

whose

con- siderablesizeandvoracious appetite

demand

anabundant supply offish. Itmightthereforebesupposed thatthis bird

would

be found breedingatmiiny placesfrom

Maine

toLabrador, andyet, sofar asI

am

aware,itisfoundatonly

two

spotsinallthisrange ofcoast,and tooneof these

we know

certainlythatithas resorted forthree hundred andfiftyyears*inspiteofalmostceaseless per-

secution.

Ifthen such isthe casewithabirdgiftedwith unusual

powers

oflocomotion

how much more

likely itistohave beenthehabit

*In 'The Auk'^forApril,by an unfortunateslipof the pen,Iwrote threehundred andthirty-two instead of threehundredandfifty-three.

LfCAs, .Voteson the Great Auk.

279

ofabird so

hampered

bynatureas the Great

AuU.

Itisalso worthy of notethattraditionsconcernins: the Great

Auk

refer to a small nimiber of localities only, and moreover had the bird availed itself of the

many

possible breeding places along the coasts of

Newfoundland

and Labradorit might have endured in lessened

numbers

until thisday.

There is a

rumor

that twentyyears ago the Great

Auk was

still tobefound on the

Penguin

Islands,in the

mouth

of

Gros

Water

Bay, sixteen miles from

Grady

Harbor,a localitvabout two hundred andfiftymiles north of

Cape Norman,

N. F.*

Of

coursethisispossible,butitseemshardly probable.

It

was

on the program, during the cruiseof the Fish

Com-

mission schooner 'Grampus,'in the

summer

of 1SS7 (a cruise in which it

was my good

fortime totake part),to visit as

many

of the probal^le former breeding groundsof the Great

Auk

as circumstances

would

admit^of,notably PenguinIsland near

Cape

la

Hune

(southern coast of

Newfoundland),

and

Penguin

Islands near

Cape

Freels (easterncoast). Unfortunately

^olus

decided againstavisittotheformerlocality

—

sooftenmentioned by the early navigators

—

and ^let loose

upou

us a brisk southwester, before

which

the'Grampus' drove bv undershortenedcanvasat therateoftenknotsan hour, while, with avisitto

Fimk

Island

still inprospect, it

was deemed

inadvisable to loseanytimeby

waitingfor

wind

andseatogo

down.

On

tiieeastern coast

we were

favoredwithbetterweather,and leaving thewell-named harborof

Seldom Come By

early in the morning,witha

'Newfoundland

Pilot' (a lookout at the mast- head) to guard against the possible contingency of a rocknot laid

down

onthe chart,passed PeckfordReef, the

Schoolmarm,

and Scrub Rocks, and

came

to anchor about noonoil'the Pen- guinIslands,

two

flat,grassy isletsrising but twentyfeetabove thewaterandnotatall suggestive ofan Alcine breedingplace.

Still oneof these

may

be thatcertainflat island

whence men

"dravethe Penguins onaboard intotheirboats by hundredsat a time,"in spiteof the fact that the islets are but three miles from shore,and inconsequence the Great

Auk

must have led averyprecarious existence.

Offer

Wadham,

nine miles fartherout to sea,is

much more

*ForthisreportIamindebtedtoMr.WilliamSclater ofSt.Johns,N.F.

280

LiCAS, Noteson the GreatAuk. [July

likely to have been the spot alliuled to by Captain Richard Whitbonrne. althoiij^h all attempts to definitely locate it must necessarilybepure guesswork.

Certainl)'if tlie Garefowl dwelthere,heleftnotraceofformer residence,for not abone noraspeckof eggshell

came

to light in

making

adozenexcavationstothebedrock.

This is in

marked

contrast to the state of aflairs at

Funk

Island,

where

bones can readily befound, and

where

the soil itself, thickly sprinkled with crumbled eggshells, bears

mute

testimonytolongyears ofoccupancybytheGreat

Auk.

The

soilof

Funk

Island,bytheway,isfrozen foronlyapart of the year,andthestatementthata

mummy

of the

Greak Auk was

taken ''from under ice

which

nevermelts"

was

doubtless

made

from a misapprehension of the facts in the case, for although floe ice is driven

upon some

portions of the island it

n^ver reaches those places

where

the

Auk

remains lie buried, and never enduresintothe

summer

months.

Today

Penguin Islands are overun byacolony of field mice {Arvicola riparia),

whose burrows

exist in almost incredible numbers, while their well

worn

connecting paths cover the

ground

inplaces witha veritable network.

Sundry

boluses of mattedfurand bones borewitnessto theoccasional disturbance ofthispopulous

mousery

bythevisitsofOwls.

A

littleinvestigation

showed

that

many

burrows, having been deserted by their original occupants, the mice, had been taken possession ofby Leach'sPetrels, andtheoccurrenceof perfectly fresheggs on the 34th of July,coupled with the factthat well advanced

embryos

were found at the Bird

Rocks

on _July

9, suggests that possibly this little bird raises two broods in a season.

A

few Puffins

were

also found ontheisland,but noneof the

many

busy little excavators

seemed

to have met with better success than ourselves in finding bones,for none lay scattered about theentrance to their burrows (as

was

the caseat

Funk

Island),and ifindications

may

be relied on the formeroccur- rence of the Great

Auk

on these Penguin Islands in anycon- siderable

numbers

must be looked

upon

as

somewhat

doubtful.

Another doubtful habitatis found in the Bird

Rocks

of the GulfofSt. Lawrence,foralthough the

Auks may

havestrayed thitherfromthecolonyatPenguinIsland,ofl'

Cape

la

Hune,

they

i8S8.] Lucas, Notes on the Great Auk.

28

1

would

have found the area available for breeding purposes limitedtoa

narrow

stripon thenortheastern point of the

North Rock,

and astill

more

restricted portion on its southern side, thesebeing the only spots accessible to a flightlessbird like the

Garefowl.

True, in Hakluyt's 'Voyages' Cartier speaks of the Great

Apponatz

inconnection withtheliesdesMargaulx,ashecalled theserockyislets,l)ut

may

this notbeamistranslationof^rassc Apponatz,oracorrect translation ofamisprint?

Never

having seen the original French, I

make

this suggestion with

some

hesitation,anditmuststandfor

what

itisworth,stillitderivesa littlesupport from thecircumstancethat

where

theseproblem- aticalbirds arefirst mentionedthey arespokenofas being "ex- ceedingfat"(IIy sontexcessivementgras").

Mr.

Grievesuggestsinarecentletter that informertimes the spaceat the base of the little rock

was much more

extended thanatpresent, sinceCartier's

crew

"killedaboveathousandof those Godetz and

Apponatz"

on "the lowest part of the least island,"and "inlessthan onehour might havefilled thirtysuch

boatsofthem."

Thissupposition

may

very well becorrect,yet careful obser- vation of the little rock and the depth ofwater immediately aboutit leads

me

to think thatthechanges it

may

have under- gone have beentheresultof thefall offragmentsfromthe over- hangingsidesratherthanthewearing

away

ofitsbase.

Charles Leigh,

who

visited the Bird

Rocks

in 153S,doesnot mention the 'Penguin,' although he landed on the little rock after askirmishwithaherd ofWalruses

who

valiantly attacked theboatandatfirstput the invaderstoflight.

Ifthe Godetz and

Apponatz were Murres

and Razorbills it

would

not Iiave required avery great expanseof ^clifl'to have furnished footholdforathousandor

two

ofthem, and even

now,

after long years of persecution,it is quite possible toapproach thesebirds,

when

sittingontheireggs,sufficientlynearto

knock them down

witha stick.

That

theliesdes

Margaulx

of Cartier are the Bird

Rocks

of todaycan scarcelybe questioned,althoughnolocalitywhatever can be found

by

following the courses and distances given as havingbeensailedon the34th and 35thofJune, 1534.

But

by following Cartier from

Buona

Vista northward,

282

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

through theStraitof BelleIsle,and thence southward,

we

learn from the latitudes

now

and then given that on

June

35 he

must

have been

somewhere

inthe vicinity of theBird Rocks.

Fortunately, too, thereis a referenceto the Island ofBrion, o-iving its direction and distance from the lies des Margaulx,

which

isalonesufficient to identifythe spot, as theyharmonize withexistingfacts. BrionIsland,likeBlanc Sablon and Chateau Bay,has retained its

name unchanged

whileso

many

othershave either been

renamed

or have had their original appellation so anglicized astobequite unrecognizable.

Final confirmation of the^localityisfoundintheGannets (Mar- gaulx) themselves,

whose

descendants with true conservative spiritstill'cling to their historic stronghold,and although they nolongerexist insuch

numbers

that the rocks

"though

red

seem

white," theystillbiteas savagelyas inthedaysof yore.

Two more

supposed breeding placesof theGreat

Auk may

be consideredhere.

Cape Cod

andtheVirginRocks.

Of

thelatter itwill suffice tosay that theyliethreeand onehalffathoms under water,while

many

evident reasons,suchasthelow,sandychar- acter of

Cape Cod

and the adjacent islands, the proximityof Indians, and the general northern rangeof the Alcidre onthe Atlanticcoast, rendertheformerlocality

more

thandoubtful.

As

forthebones found in shell heaps, they areprobablythose of birdstaken during theirmigrations southward,fortheGreat

Auk was

doubtlessformerlyas

common

onthe

New ^England

^coast

during the

autumn

and winter

months

asthe Razorbillis

now.

A word

regarding the food of the Great

Auk,

and in sup- port of thestatement

made

byFabricius that the lump-fish(Cy- clopterus

lumpus)

formed an important itemin its billof fare.

While

the lump-fish is rather rough to look upon, the bones areextremelybrittle,andthestrongbeakof theGarefowl

would

slicethroughthe

body

of any specimenit might havecaptured, aseasilyas the knife of the

Eskimo

does throughthebodyof the lump-fish he dries or freezes for hiswinter store.

The young

lump-fish

—

and these

would

be most daintymorsels

—

keepnear the surface of thewater andseekconcealmentinpatchesoffloat- ing rock-

weed where

they

would

easilyhave beendetectedbythe keen eye of a sea fowl, while being butindifierent

swimmers

there

would

be nosafety in flight.

Thiscalls to

mind

the

somewhat

singularremarkof

Mr. Reeks

iSSS.] Lucas, Noteson the Great Auk.

283

thattheGreat

Auk

could not have been a powerful

swimmer, owing

tothe smallsizeof its feet, forgettingthat, like the Pen- guins and the Alcidte, the Garefowl

depended

for

swimming

chiefly

upon

the wings, and if the bird coidd not flyover the wateritcertainlycouldbeneath.

Icannotclose this paper without referring to the published figuresof theGi-eat

Auk,

for thisbird has suffered grievouslyat thehandsof nearly everyartist

(Audubon

isanexception)

who

hasbeencalled

upon

toportrayit.

It istrue thattheartists

may

plead extenuating circumstances

intheshape of the stuffed

—

^it

^were

^{flatteryto say}

^mounted

—

specimensthathaveservedas models, most of

which

arefrom

two

toeightincheslongerthanthey shouldbe. Itrustthat

Mr.

Hancock

willpardon

me

forincludinghisfigureinthiscriticism, for hisbirdistoo long, too slender,and with too pronounced a crop.

Artistshaveevidentlyrecognizedthefactthat thestuffed

Auks

are too slender,and endeavored to

make amends

for theshort- comingsof the taxidermist, forobesityisthegeneral troublewith figuresof theGreat

Auk,

although theneck is usually as

much

too thin as thebodyistoostout.

Could

the birdhaveseenhim- selfportrayed as- heis even on the cover of his namesake, he might,likeWolfe, haveexclaimed,

"now

Idie content."

The

questionmightnaturallybeasked

what

right hasone

who

never

saw

theGreat

Auk

alive to criticise

him

dead,and the answeris this, having just

compared

three

mounted

skeletons with oneof theRazorbill the conclusion isvuiavoidablethat the

two

speciesi^esembledone another verycloselyin outwardcon- tour.

As

forinternalstructure, I

must

plead guiltyto abelief that the

two

speciesshould beincludedin thegenus A/ca, and with this bitofcis-Atlanticheresv bring these notesto a close.