The Audubon Reader (57 page)

We went on to an American Harbor, four or five miles distant to the westward, and after a while came to anchor in a small bay perfectly secure from any winds. And now we are positively on the Labrador coast, latitude 50° and a little more—farther north than I ever was before. But what a country! When we landed and passed the beach, we sank nearly up to our knees in
mosses of various sorts, producing as we moved through them a curious sensation. These mosses, which at a distance look like hard rocks, are, under foot, like a velvet cushion. We scrambled about, and with anxiety stretched our necks and looked over the country far and near, but not a square foot of
earth
could we see. A poor, rugged, miserable
country; the trees like so many mops of wiry composition, and where the soil is not rocky it is boggy up to a man’s waist. We searched and searched; but, after all, only shot an adult
Pigeon Hawk, a summer-plumage Tell-tale Godwit, and a
Razor-billed Auk. We visited all the islands about the harbor; they were all rocky, nothing but rocks. The
Great Black-backed Gull was sailing magnificently all about us. The Great Tern was plunging after shrimps in every pool, and we found four eggs of the
Spotted Sandpiper; the nest was situated under a rock in the grass, and made of a quantity of dried grass forming a very decided nest, at
least much more so than in our Middle States, where the species breed so very abundantly.
Wild Geese were seen by our party, and these birds also breed here; we saw Loons and
Eider Ducks,
Dusky Ducks and the
Scoter Duck. We came to our anchorage at twenty minutes past twelve. Tom Lincoln and John heard a
Ptarmigan.
Toads were abundant. We saw some rare plants, which we preserved, and butterflies and small bees were among the flowers which we gathered.

We also saw
Red-breasted Mergansers. The male and female Eider Ducks separate as soon as the latter begin to lay; after this they are seen flying in large flocks, each sex separately. We found a dead
basking shark, six and a half feet long; this fish had been wounded by a harpoon and ran ashore or was washed there by the waves. At Eastport fish of this kind have been killed thirty feet long.

June 18
. I remained on board all day drawing; our boats went off to some islands eight or ten miles distant after birds and eggs, but the day, although very beautiful, did not prove valuable to us, as some eggers from Halifax had robbed the places ere the boats arrived. We, however, procured about a dozen Razor-billed Auks,
Foolish Guillemots, a female Eider Duck, a male
Surf Duck, and a Sandpiper—which, I cannot ascertain, although the Least Sandpiper I ever saw, not the Least Auklet of Bonaparte’s
Synopsis
. Many
nests of the Eider Duck were seen, some at the edge of the woods, placed under the rampant boughs of the fir trees, which in this latitude grow only a few inches above the surface of the ground, and to find the nest these boughs had to be raised. The nests were scooped a few inches deep in the mossy, rotten substance that
forms here what must be called earth; the
eggs are deposited on a bed of down and covered with the same material; and so warm are these
nests that although not a parent bird was seen near them, the eggs were quite warm to the touch and the chicks in some actually hatching in the absence of the mother. Some of the nests had the eggs uncovered; six eggs was the greatest number found in a nest. The nests found on grassy islands are fashioned in the same manner and generally placed at the foot of a large tussock of grass. Two female Ducks had about twelve
young on the water, and these they protected by flapping about the water in such a way as to raise a spray, whilst the little ones dove off in various directions.

Flocks of thirty to forty males were on the wing without a single female among them. The young birds procured were about one week old, of a dark mouse color, thickly covered with a soft and warm down, and their feet appeared to be more perfect for their age than any other portion because more necessary to secure their safety and to enable them to procure food. John found many nests of the Great Black-backed Gull of which he brought both eggs and young.

The nest of this fine bird is made of mosses and grasses, raised on the solid rock, and handsomely formed within; a few feathers are in this lining. Three eggs, large, hard-shelled, with ground color of dirty yellowish, splashed and spotted with dark umber and black. The young, although small, were away from the nest a few feet, placing themselves to the lee of the nearest sheltering rock. They did not attempt to escape but when taken uttered a cry not unlike that of a young chicken under the same circumstances. The parents were so shy and so wary that none could be shot. At the approach of the boats to the rocks where they breed, a few standing as sentinels gave the alarm, and the whole rose immediately in the air to a great elevation. On another rock, not far distant, a number of Gulls of the same size, white, and with the same hoarse note, were to be seen, but they had no nests; these, I am inclined to think (at present) the bird called the Herring Gull … They fly altogether, but the white ones do not alight on the rocks where the Black-backed has its nests. John watched their motion and their cry very closely, and gave me this information.

Two eggs of a Tern resembling the Cayenne Tern were found
in a nest on the rocks, made of moss also, but the birds, although the
eggs were nearly ready to hatch, kept out of gunshot. These eggs measured one and a half inches in length, very oval, whitish, spotted and dotted irregularly with brown and black all over. The cry of those Terns which
I
saw this afternoon resembles that of the Cayenne Tern that I met with in the Floridas, and I could see a large orange bill, but could not discern the black feet. Many nests of the
Great Tern were found, two eggs in each, laid on the short grass scratched out, but no nest. One
Least Sandpiper, the smallest I ever saw, was procured; these small gentry are puzzles indeed; I do not mean to say in nature, but in Charles [Bonaparte’s]
Synopsis
. We went ashore this afternoon and made a
bear trap with a gun, baited with heads and entrails of codfish, Bruin having been seen within a few hundred yards of where the lure now lies in wait. It is truly interesting to see the activity of the cod-fishermen about us, but I will write of this when I know more of their filthy business.

June 19
. Drawing as much as the disagreeable motion of the vessel would allow me to do; and although at anchor and in a good harbor, I could scarcely steady my pencil, the wind being high from southwest. At three a.m. I had all the young men up and they left by four for some islands where the Great Black-backed Gull breeds. The captain went up the little
Natasquan River. When John returned he brought eight
Razor-billed Auks and four of their eggs
identified
; these eggs measure three inches in length, one and seven-eighths in breadth, dirty-white ground, broadly splashed with deep brown and black, more so towards the greater end. This Auk feeds on fish of a small size, flies swiftly with a quick beat of the wings, rounding to and fro at the distance of fifty or more yards, exhibiting as it turns the pure white of its lower parts or the jet black of its upper. These birds sit on the nest in an almost upright position; they are shy and wary, diving into the water or taking flight at the least appearance of danger; if wounded slightly they dive and we generally lost them, but if unable to do this, they throw themselves on their back and defend themselves fiercely, biting severely whoever attempts to seize them.

They run over and about the rocks with ease, and not awkwardly as some have stated. The flesh of this bird when stewed in a particular manner is good eating, much better than would be
expected from birds of its class and species. The Herring Gull breeds on the same islands, and we found many
eggs; the
nests were all on the rocks, made of moss and grasses and rather neat inwardly. The
Arctic Tern was found breeding abundantly; we took some of their eggs; there were two in each nest, one and a quarter inches long, five-eighths broad, rather sharp at the little end. The ground is light olive, splashed with dark umber irregularly and more largely at the greater end; these were deposited two or three on the rocks, wherever a little grass grew, no nest of any kind apparent. In habits this bird resembles the Common Tern and has nearly the same harsh note; it feeds principally on shrimps, which abound in these waters. Five young
Black-backed Gulls were brought alive, small and beautifully spotted yet over the head and back somewhat like a leopard; they walked well about the deck, and managed to pick up the food given them; their cry was a hac,
hac, hac, wheet, wheet, wheet
. Frequently, when one was about to swallow a piece of flesh, a brother or sister would jump at it, tug, and finally deprive its relative of the morsel in an instant. John assured me that the old birds were too shy to be approached at all. John shot a fine male of the
Scoter Duck, which is scarce here. Saw some
Wild Geese, which breed here, though they have not yet formed their nests. The
Red-breasted Merganser breeds also here but is extremely shy and wary, flying off as far as they can see us, which to me in this wonderfully wild country is surprising; indeed, thus far all the seafowl are much wilder than those of the Floridas.

Twenty nests of a species of Cormorant not yet ascertained were found on a small, detached, rocky island; these were built of sticks, seaweeds and grasses on the naked rock and about two feet high, as filthy as those of their relations the Floridians. Three eggs were found in one nest, which is the complement, but not a bird could be shot—too shy and vigilant. This afternoon the captain and I walked to the
Little Natasquan River and proceeded up it about four miles to the falls or rapids—a small river, dark, irony waters, sandy shores and impenetrable woods along these, except here and there is a small space overgrown with short wiry grass unfit for cattle; a thing of little consequence, as no cattle are to be found here. Returning this evening the tide had so fallen that we waded
a mile and a half to an island close to our anchorage; the sailors were obliged to haul the boat that distance in a few inches of water. We have removed the
Ripley
closer in shore where I hope she will be steady enough for my work tomorrow.

June 20
. Thermometer 60° at noon. Calm and beautiful. Drew all day, and finished two
Foolish Guillemot. I rose at two this morning, for we have scarcely any darkness now; about four a man came from
Captain Billings to accompany some of our party to
Partridge Bay on a shooting excursion. John and his party went off by land, or rather by rock and moss, to some ponds three or four miles from the sea; they returned at four this afternoon and brought only one
Scoter Duck, male; saw four, but could not discover the nests, although they breed here; saw also about twenty
Wild Geese, one pair
Red-necked Divers, one White-winged Scoter, one
Three-toed Woodpecker, and Tell-tale Godwits. The ponds, although several miles long and of good proportion and depth, had no fish in them that could be discovered and on the beach no shells nor grasses; the margins are reddish sand. A few toads were seen, which John described as “pale-looking and poor.” The country a barren rock as far as the eye extended; mosses more than a foot deep on the average, of different varieties but principally the white kind, hard and crisp. Saw not a quadruped. Our bear trap was discharged, but we could not find the animal for want of a dog. An
Eider Duck’s nest was found fully one hundred yards from the water, unsheltered on the rocks, with five eggs and clean down. In no instance, though I have tried with all my powers, have I approached nearer than eight or ten yards of the sitting birds; they fly at the least appearance of danger. We concluded that the absence of fish in these ponds was on account of their freezing solidly every winter, when fish must die. Captain Billings paid me a visit and very generously offered to change our whale-boat for a large one and his pilot boat for ours; the industry of this man is extraordinary. The specimen of
Brindled Guillemot drawn with a white line round the eye was a female; the one without this line was a young bird. I have drawn seventeen and a half hours this day, and my poor head aches badly enough.

One of Captain Billings’ mates told me of the
Petrels breeding in great numbers in and about Mount Desert Island rocks in the
months of June and July; there they deposit their one white egg in the deepest fissures of the rocks and sit upon it only during the night. When approached whilst on the egg, they open their wings and bill, and offer to defend themselves from the approach of intruders. The
Eider Ducks are seen leaving the islands on which they breed at daybreak every fair morning in congregated flocks of males or females separately, and proceed to certain fishing grounds where the water is only a few fathoms deep and remain till towards evening, when the females sit on their eggs for the night and the males group on the rocks by themselves. This valuable bird is extremely abundant here; we find their nests without any effort every time we go out. So sonorous is the song of the
Fox-colored Sparrow that I can hear it for hours, most distinctly, from the cabin where I am drawing, and yet it is distant more than a quarter of a mile. This bird is in this country what the
Towhee Bunting is in the Middle States.

June 21
. I drew all day at an adult Gannet which we brought from the great rock of which I have spoken; it was still in good order. Many eggs of the Arctic Tern were collected today, two or three in a nest; these birds are as shy here as all others and the moment John and Coolidge landed, or indeed approached the islands on which they breed, they all rose in the air, passed high overhead, screaming and scolding all the time the young men were on the land. When one is shot the rest plunge towards it and can then be easily shot. Sometimes when wounded in the body they sail off to extraordinary distances and are lost. The same is the case with the
Black-backed Gull. When our captain returned he brought about a dozen female Eider Ducks, a great number of their eggs and a bag of
down; also a fine Wild Goose, but nothing new for the pencil. In one nest of the Eider ten eggs were found; this is the most we have seen as yet in any one nest. The female draws the down from her abdomen as far towards her breast as her bill will allow her to do, but the
feathers
are not pulled, and on examination of several specimens I found these well and regularly planted and cleaned from their original down, as a forest of trees is cleared of its undergrowth. In this state the female is still well clothed, and little or no difference can be seen in the plumage unless examined. These birds have now nearly all hatched in this
latitude, but we are told that we shall overreach them in that and meet with nests and eggs as we go northeast until August.