Fledgling Adventures of a Field Wizard

Cyril is best known for his field work in the Arctic and near-Arctic regions of Canada and Alaska during in the 1920s. His research interests took him to some of North America’s wilderness regions, leading The New York Times to herald him as an ‘explorer’ when they announced his untimely death. Those who worked closely with him remembered him, foremost, as an extraordinarily talented ornithologist.

His most significant work came on a 6-month expedition to the remote Alaskan islands of the Bering Sea. He stayed on Nunivak Island for four months: sometimes living wild, sometimes communing with the indigenous Nuniwarmiut— a small, primitive Inuit community largely untouched by ‘white man’. Cyril initially communicated with sign language but quickly learnt about 70 words of Cup’ig.

During the expedition, he amassed a collection of 555 bird skins for the California Academy of Sciences, whose director called it ‘the finest collection of birds ever brought out of the Arctic by one man in a single season’.

Cyril’s enthusiasm kept him upon Nunivak Island dangerously late into the season. When ice suddenly swept down from the north, he lost all communication. He stayed alive eating bird carcasses resigned to the prospect of having to survive an arctic winter. By chance, the ice opened again for just long enough to enable an escape.

In 1928, Cyril was thrilled to learn that he had been selected for an international research expedition to Madagascar. His untimely death came only five days before he was due to sail. His contemporary and close friend, William Rowan, was amongst those who believed that Cyril’s career would have been influential at a global level; it was only just taking flight. Whilst Cyril was denied the opportunity to fulfill his potential, William Rowan went on to identify the cause of migratory behaviour in birds and achieved international standing as a scientist.

Cyril lived at a time when the conservation of wildlife was largely focussed on preserving gaming interests; and when mastery of shooting, drawing and Latin were part of the skill-set needed to be a good ornithologist. Cyril may not have been the modern ideal of a naturalist—these were different times—but he was amongst the early ‘bird men’ who transformed ornithology into a respected science and ‘bird-watching’ into a hobby now enjoyed by millions. From the specimen collections and meticulously recorded field notes of the early ornithologists, a baseline was created against which man’s impact on the environment could be monitored, ultimately leading to the creation of conservation organisations and the protection of bird habitats.

Cyril was the son of Alfred and Ada Harrold. Alfred was a Lapford doctor in the mid-1890’s. The family home was at Highfield House. It was here that Cyril was born on 05 August 1896. Within a year the family were looking to move:

Cyril grew up in Nottinghamshire² and Derbyshire³. His school years were spent at The Latin School, Risely (1904-1907) and Trent College, Long Eaton (1907-1913).

It was at Trent College that he developed an interest in natural history, greatly encouraged by the school’s Natural History master. He became an enthusiastic reader of works by pioneering Victorian naturalists.

Natural history research, at this time, was very much concerned with the collection and recording of specimens, in addition to field observation. Cyril learnt to shoot, skin and mount birds as a schoolboy pastime, adding his items to the school museum which he curated for three years. Through the school’s Officer Training Corps he became a skilled marksman and was part of the school team that won the Country Life Cup, a prestigious national snap-shooting competition between public schools held at the National Rifle Associations headquarters at Bisley Camp.

Ontario

After leaving school, Cyril moved briefly to the village of Predock near the Malvern Hills. Then, on 23 April 1914, Cyril left Southampton onboard The Austonia bound for Montreal. For an eighteen-year old with a love of the outdoors, the wild expanse of Canada offered adventure as well as career prospects in farming. He settled in the small community of Copeland, between the Great Lakes of Hurun, Ontario and Erie, and 50 miles NW of the Niagara Falls.

He steadily forged ahead, adding to his laurels annually until he developed into the best field ornithologist in Canada.

—South Notts Echo, 08 June 1929

Cyril had remained in close contact with his friend William Rowan who had now starting a zoology department at the University of Alberta and was keen to build a specimen collection for it. For each of the next four years, 1923-1926, Cyril travelled to Alberta to collect at Beaverhills Lake where he was, for part of the time at least, accompanied by William. Conveniently, trips to the lake enabled Cyril to visit his brother who lived in Tofield, the lake’s nearest community. It was close enough to lodge but Cyril always took up residence under canvas by the lakeside.

William first joined Cyril at Beaverhills Lakes on 14 May 1923.¹² Over the next two weeks they listed and collected 31 species of wader. Their favourite camping spot was at Francis Point. For both men, these were some of their happiest times. William later wrote:

u003cimg class=u0022wp-image-17332u0022 style=u0022width: 20px;u0022 src=u0022https://lapfordhistory.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/quot7.jpgu0022 alt=u0022u0022u003e u003cspan class=u0022has-inline-color has-ghostkit-color-da-coloru0022u003eAs a campmate he was unique. He believed that obstacles were made to be overcome and nothing could upset his serenity or damp his ardour.u003c/spanu003e

William assisted Cyril with wildlife drawing and Cyril assisted William with his shooting. Most of their drawings and paintings have never been published. However, William’s drawing of Whooping Cranes, featured on a Canadian Postage Stamp.

Today, like many of the prairie lakes, Beaverhills Lake has shrunk dramatically, believed to be a natural cyclical effect; in some recent summers it has dried completely. But, in 1923, there were some 55 square miles of shallow wetland used as a staging area by hundreds of thousands of migrating birds travelling the ‘mid-continent flyway’. It was the ideal place to research migratory behaviour through the carefully analysis of the arrival and departure dates of various species.

Whitewater Lake

From 1924, Cyril collected for three successive springs at Whitewater Lake, a few miles north of the Turtle Mountains in southwestern Manitoba. The 1925-6 trips were for the national collection of the National Museum of Natural Sciences¹⁵ in Ottowa. The museum’s seasoned ornithologist, Percy Taverner was a highly-respected expert who was writing the last of his seminal pair of reference books on The Birds of Canada. Taverner had been drawn to Cyril following his useful list of waders from his 1923 trip to Beaverhills. He called the list “a stunner” and, recognising Cyril as a young talent, took him under his wing.

The following is an except from a report written by Cyril Harrold on his observations of Snow Geese at Whitewater Lake during his spring 1926 visit. It portrays something of Cyril’s observational curiosity and the thrill that birds gave him.

Every morning at daylight I could tell almost to the minute when the first flock was about to leave for the stubble, by the steadily increasing volume of sound coming from the white mass of Geese in the lake. This increased to a certain pitch when there was silence for a second, then a roar of wings as the first flock of possibly several thousand birds left the lake, quickly spreading out in regular line formation. After several minutes, the Geese in the lake started to call again and the process described above was repeated until all had left the lake.
…On eight consecutive mornings, they passed right over my camp at only 50-100 feet from the ground, a remarkable experience.¹⁶

Autumn 1925: life under canvas

In August 1925, Cyril arrived at Beaverhills for the start of an Autumn’s collecting season for the National Collection. He was pleased to meet up with his friend William Rowan. Like many early ornithologists, both men were used to spending weeks on end living in very basic conditions. When Percy Taverner joined them a few days later they were envious of his well-evolved camping arrangement¹⁸. His tent not only had a stovepipe, a mouse-proof detachable ground sheet and weatherproof doors, but a bedstead and air-mattress! His collecting trays were fly protected and hung-up neatly from the ridgepole pole. Rowan wrote:

Nothing on earth necessary for a comfortable collecting experience appeared to have been forgotten. Harrold’s bed and mine were mere blankets on the ground, whatever it might happen to be; our tent was borrowed, complete with two major leaks …with an erstwhile coal-oil container for drinking water which came out of the lake or nearest slough.¹⁹

Summer 1926

Following Cyril’s third consecutive spring collection at Whitewater, he returned to Winnipeg where he met up with Taverner to travel together to their summer collecting base near Belvedere. On route they stopped in Edmonton to pick up Tarverner’s other prolific young collector, Hamilton Laing. During 1926 Laing would collect 413 bird skins; Cyril collected 465.

On 24 May, the men arrived at camp at the northern end of Lac La Noone, close to the farm of Archibald Henderson. Henderson’s career had involved ranching, hunting, trapping, fur trading and establishing trading posts, but in 1926 he was best known as egg collector. Contributions towards the science of oology and ornithology helped him avoid controversy despite amassing during his lifetime a private collection of 8000 eggs from 930 species. He wrote 48 research papers.

Rowan joined the party on 27 May having returned from an egg-hunt, a tradition he continued at Belvedere for 30 years.

The party enjoyed numerous days observing and collecting around the lake. They also spent a number of days at nearby Lake Majeau, and at a smaller lake which they named Lake Wharton (8-16 July). In all, specimens from 164 different species were collected. A further 41 species were observed. The work resulted in a published list of 205 species.

Cyril stayed at Belvedere until the end of September²⁰.

Cyril’s most important single contribution to ornithology came during the summer and autumn 1927 with a 6-month research expedition to a number of Alaskan islands in the Bering Sea, principally the remote Island of Nunivak. The work was conducted for the Californian Academy of Sciences, but it was initiated by Cyril who was willing to donate his time and efforts for free in order to gain experience. The Academy funded his expenses and transport costs. He set out from Seattle on 10 May.

The first 6 weeks were spent exploring birdlife on the islands of the Aleutian archipelago before a long 9-day boat journey to Nunivak via Nome over the Bering sea.

Nome was something of a ghost town—its population had fallen from a gold-rush high of 20,000 people to just a few hundred people— but it was, nevertheless, a welcome place to stock up for the months ahead on Nunivak.

Cyril arrived at Nash Harbor, Nunivak on 28 June. He was greeted by the shore-line Inuit community of Kligachimiuny and set up base not far away on a lagoon just back from the sea shore.

Summer 1928

After collecting cranes for the National Collection in the spring of 1928, Cyril joined Taverner for a 3 month summer trip to the North Coast of the Gulf of St Lawrence—the,Côte-Nord. It would be Cyril’s last field trip.

Their base was at Matamek on Copley Amory’s remote summer estate. Amory was from a wealthy Boston family, whose interests outside of commerce included art, natural science and exploration.

For than 1000 miles the Côte-Nord was accessible only by boat. Its many inlets, rivers and rapids could only easily be explored by canoe. There were a few small fishing settlements inhabited by aboriginal Innu. Amory’s estate was therefore something of a marvel: fitted with every modern convenience, yet wonderfully remote. Around the main house he had built numerous lodgings for guests, servants and naturalists. Researchers also had access to fully-kitted laboratories.

Cyril and Taverner based themselves on the upper floor of “The Factory”— once a trading post used by the Hudson Bay Company to secure supplies of fur from the Innu. Amory had converted it into a small boat building enterprise employing local aboriginal people.

Cyril was used to wild camping. It was a odd experience to be serviced with fresh towels by a French maid each day, especially as native Innu were still living primitively nearby.

The base couldn’t be more idyllic, set on the shore front some distance from the house were the wild Matamec river met the St Lawrence. Near Cyril’s room was a laboratory, although he did most of his bird skinning and research in a tent outside.

Within hours of arriving, he made the first recorded sighting of a Chimney Swift to the area. The omens for a successful summer were good.

The region was known for its seabirds but Cyril and Taverner focused on little researched land birds, necessitating canoe trips, sometimes several miles long.

326 birds and 61 mammals would be collected for the National Collection³⁰ .

Between 13 July and 07 August, the main base was left behind during a 25-day trip exploring the coastline, its wild inlets and the seabird nesting sites of Anticosti Island. The waters were inhospitable and three days were spent in Fox Bay due to poor weather conditions.

Cyril returned to Matamek with Taverner on 08 August to enjoy a few more days bird watching and fishing as guests of Copely Amory (who owned the fishing rights on the Matamek River, one of the most abundant wild salmon rivers in the world). A number of well-known American ornithologists were gathered at Amory’s estate³¹. Taverner called the period 08-18 August the “Mametek meeting”, a purely informal get together of like minded men sharing stories at the end of their long summer adeventures.

One of the guests, Glover Allen, opened Cyril’s eyes to the travel possibilities available through well-funded American Universities. He lectured at Harvard University and had returned the previous year from an expedition from the west to the east coasts of Africa via Liberia and the Belgium Congo.

Cyril impressed Glover and a matter of weeks later he found himself with a job offer for a role at the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard. He happily accepted.

Shortly after accepting the offer of a position at Havard, Cyril resigned from it. He had been approached by the American Museum of Natural History to accompany their Madagascan expedition as a lead ornithologist. The expedition was a joint venture with the British Museum and Paris Museum. It was the expedition of his dreams and too great an opportunity to turn down!

He moved to Manhattan and devoted himself to studying Madagascan ornithology from available literature and specimens. A checklist of Madagascan birds was completed with notes on their habitat which he translated from French text.

While studying he contracted influenza which inflamed his left ear. On 1 Feb 1929, he was operated on for mastoiditis but it was discovered that he had also contracted meningitis. Cyril died in Manhattan at 2.15am on 04 February, just five days before the expedition was due to sail.

Cyril had always been seen as a fit man, easily withstanding the hardships of life in the wilds. His friends and wider scientific community were quite unprepared for the tragic news of his death. For many it was deeply shocking, not least because he was on the cusp of a career defining expedition; something he had longed for since his school days.

Cyril’s ashes were returned to England and on 05 June, four months after his death, they were finally interred in the grave of his parents at Breaston. During the church service Rev Warner, who had been Cyril’s House Master at Trent College, gave a glowing tribute.

Several of Cyril’s friends and peers wrote obituaries. Today, these serve to demonstrate the high regard in which he was held as a naturalist, and particularly as an ornithologist. Moreover, they provide an incite into the nature of Cyril: the friend, joker and campmate.

They portray Cyril as shy and reserved, usually keeping himself in the background, but being the first to step forward when an obstacle needed to be overcome. He possessed the ability to stimulate and inspire with his quiet enthusiasm.

His infectious wry smile went with a great sense of humour, entering into a practical joke with all the zest of a school-boy.

Cyril was more than a skilled collector and field note writer. His study of the pigmentation and structure of feathers in relation to bird distribution contributed to the debate on the ‘mystery of migration’, taken forward by his close friend William Rowan. He was also an advocate of systematic ornithology. His flair for languages at school had stood him in good stead and he regularly used his knowledge of Latin, French and German in his cataloguing work.

He was generous, always willing to pass on his knowledge to others, yet few could begin to comprehend his unusual powers of observation — his ability to spot a rare bird from within a flock by a slight quirk of its flight; his identification of birds from a single note; or his prediction of bird behaviour from a nuance in their calls. His observational skills were a constant source of admiration. One tribute referred to it as Cyril’s “field wizardry” !

As an ornithologist, he had that within him which would have made him pre-eminent; as a man, he was all that is encompassed by the word Gentleman
… this is the word most frequently used to describe him.

We cannot conclude this tribute more fittingly—
Cyril Guy Harrold was an ornithologist and a gentleman.

— B.W.Cartwright and A.G.Lawrence³²