CHAP. xix. SEVEN ISLANDS. 319 



but since I have read Dr. Bryant's account of the birds 

 that breed in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, I am almost 

 inclined to doubt the. correctness of my observation. 

 ' Before leaving home,' says Dr. Bryant, ' I had nattered 

 myself that I should have an opportunity of seeing some 

 of the rarer rapacious birds, or the Iceland or Greenland 

 falcon, duck, hawk, &c. Strange as it may seem, during 

 the whole of my visit to the north shore I saw only a 

 single bird of this class a fine golden eagle, at Bras 

 D'Or. I mention this, not as a proof that those birds are 

 unknown for I frequently found on the shores unmis- 

 takable evidence of their visits --but to show with how 

 much caution the results of any individual's experience 

 should be received as positive evidence in natural 

 history.'* 



The forest on the gulf consisted of small spruce, 

 but the trees were beautifully and symmetrically formed ; 

 the path ran for several miles through open glades 

 bordered by this graceful tree, offering the most delightful 

 camp-grounds, with the sea rolling on a splendid 

 beach, 100 to 200 yards in breadth. Beautiful as this 

 coast is in summer, yet during the long winter months 

 it is indescribably dreary, desolate, and exposed. All 

 the inhabitants of the Moisie and Seven Islands, with 

 very few exceptions, fly to more genial chines, to return 

 again when the fishing season commences. 



We passed Seven Islands, which looked fair and beautiful 

 at a distance ; but truly with them distance lends enchant- 



* Remarks on some of the Birds that breed in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. 

 By Henry Bryant, M.D. Proceedings of the Boston Natural History Society, 

 vol. viii. 



