224 COMMON GANNET.
top or platform. The only point on which a. boat may be landed lies
on the south side, and the moment thè boat strikes it must be hauled
dry on the rocks. The whole surface of the upper platform is closely
covered with nests, placed about two feet asunder, and in such regular
order that a person may see between the lines, which run north and
south, as if looking along the furrows of a deeply ploughed field. The
Labrador fishermen and others who annually visit this extraordinary
resort of the Gannets, for the purpose of procuring their flesh to bait
their cod-fish hooks, ascend armed with heavy short clubs, in parties
of eight, ten, or more, and at once begin their work of destruction.
At sight of these unwelcome intruders, the affrighted birds rise on
wing with a noise like thunder, and fly off in such a hurried and confused
manner as to impede each other's progress, by which thousands
are forced downwards, and accumulate into a bank many feet high ;
the men beating and killing them with their clubs until fatigued, or
satisfied with the number they have slain.'" Here Mr Godwin assured
us that he had visited the Gannet Rock ten seasons in succession,
for the purpose just mentioned, and added, that on one of these occasions,
" six men had destroyed five hundred and forty Gannets in
about an hour, after which the party rested a while, and until most
of the living birds had left their immediate neighbourhood, for all
around them, beyond the distance of about a hundred yards, thousands
of Gannets were yet sitting on their nests, and the air was
filled with multitudes of others. The dead birds are now roughly
skinned, and the flesh of the breast cut up in pieces of different sizes,
which will keep good for bait about a fortnight or three weeks. So
great is the destruction of these birds for the purpose mentioned, that
the quantity of their flesh so procured supplies with bait upwards of
forty boats, which lie fishing close to the Island of Brion each season.
By the 20th of May the rock is covered with birds on thèir nests and
eggs, and about a month afterwards the young are hatched. The earth
is scratched by the birds for a few inches deep, and the edges surrounded
by sea-weeds and other rubbish, to the height of eight or ten inches,
tolerably well matted together. Each female Gannet lays a single egg,
which is pure white, but not larger than a good-sized hen's egg. When
the young are hatched, they are bluish-black, and for a fortnight or
more their skin is not unlike that of the common dog-fish. They gradually
become downy and white, and when five or six weeks old look
like great lumps of carded wool.""
COMMON GANNET. 225
I was well pleased with this plain statement of our pilot, as i had
with my glass observed the regularity; of = the lines, of nests, and seen.
many of the birds digging the earth with their strong bills, while hundreds
of them were carrying quantities of that long searweed called
Eel-grass, which they seem to bring from towards the Magdalene
Islands. While the Ripley lay to near the rocky thousands of the ¡Gannets
constantly flew over our heads | and although I shot at and brought
several to the water, neither the reports nor the sight* of their dead
•companions seemed to make any impression on them.
On weighing several of the Gannets brought on board, I found them
to average rather more than seven pounds ; but Mr Godwin assured me
that when the young birds are almost -ready to fly, they weigh eight
and sometimes nine pounds. This I afterwards «ascertained to be
true, and I account for the difference exhibited at this period by the
young birds, by the great profusion of food with which their parents
¿supply them, regardless in a great measure of their own wants. The
Pilot further told me that the stench on the summit of the rock was
insupportable," covered as it is during the breeding season, and after
the first visits of the fishermen, with the remains of carcasses of old and
¡young birds* broken and rotten -eggs, excrements, and multitudes of
fishes. He added that the Gannets, although cowardly birds, at times
stand and await the approach of a man, with open bill, and strike furious
and dangerous blows. Let me now, Reader, assure you that unless
you had seen the sight witnessed by my party and myself that day, you
could not form a correct idea of the impression it has to this moment
left on my mind.
The extent of the southward migration of the Gannet, after it has
.reared its young, is far greater perhaps than has hitherto been supposed.
I have frequently seen it on the Gulf of Mexico, in the latter part of
autumn, and in winter ; and a few were met with, in the course of my
last expedition, as far as the entrance of the Sabine River into the Bay.
of Mexico. Being entirely a maritime species, it never proceeds inland,
unless forced by violent gales, which have produced a few such
instances in Nova Scotia and the State of Maine, as well as the Floridas,
where I saw one that had been found dead in the woods two days
after a furious hurricane. The greater number of the birds of this species
seen in these warm latitudes during winter are young of that or
the preceding year. My friend John Bachsman has informed me that
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