Alfred Newton

The party consisted of fourteen men: two of these are dead, but with all the remaining twelve we conversed¹. They were commanded, as I have just said, by Vilhjalmur, and started in an eight-oared boat from Kyrkjuvogr, one evening between the 2nd and 5th of June, 1844. The next morning early they arrived off Eldey.

In form the island is a precipitous stack, perpendicular nearly all round. The most lofty part has been variously estimated to be from fifty to seventy fathoms in height; but on the opposite side a shelf (generally known as the ‘Underland’) slopes up from the sea to a considerable elevation, until it is terminated abruptly by the steep cliff of the higher portion. At the foot of this inclined plane is the only landing-place; and further up, out of the reach of the waves, is the spot where the Gare-fowls had their home.

In this expedition but three men ascended: Jon Brandsson, a son of the former leader, who had several times before visited the rock, with Sigurðr Islefsson and Ketil Ketilsson. A fourth, who was called upon to assist, refused, so dangerous did the landing seem. As the men I have named clambered up, they saw two Gare-fowls sitting among the numberless other rock-birds (Uria troile and Alca torda), and at once gave chase.

The Gare-fowls showed not the slightest disposition to repel the invaders, but immediately ran along under the high cliff, their heads erect, their little wings somewhat extended. They uttered no cry of alarm, and moved, with their short steps, about as quickly as a man could walk. Jon with outstretched arms drove one into a corner, where he soon had it fast. Sigurðr and Ketil pursued the second, and the former seized it close to the edge of the rock, here risen to a precipice some fathoms high, the water being directly below it. Ketil then returned to the sloping shelf whence the birds had started, and saw an egg lying on the lava slab, which he knew to be a Gare-fowl’s. He took it up, but finding it was broken, put it down again. Whether there was not also another egg is uncertain. All this took place in much less time than it takes to tell it. They hurried down again, for the wind was rising.