November, 1922.] 



The Canadian Field-Naturalist 



155 



Canada has a number of bird sanctuaries in the 

 prairie regions of the West, but on the eastern 

 coast of the Dominion there are but two such 

 reserves the Bird Rocks, and Perce Rock and 

 the cliffs of Bonaventure Island. These two 

 reserves, which are set aside by both the Province 

 of Quebec and the Dominion Government, afford 

 protection to large numbers of nesting sea-birds, 

 especially to the picturesque Gannets, and are of 

 much importance. Although they have been 

 established but a few years, and have been com- 

 paratively little advertised, their potential value 

 as attractions to tourists and summer holiday- 

 makers may be realized to some extent from the 

 fact that, in the summer of 1922, 767 visitors 

 registered at Perce's two hotels and spent about 

 $16,000.00 in the village. 



But some of the water-fowl most in need of 

 protection on our Atlantic seaboard receive 

 little or no aid from these two reservations, and 

 it is highly desirable that additional sanctuaries 

 should be established in order to assure well- 

 protected nesting areas for such species. One of 

 the most important of these birds is the American 

 Eider Duck, which is a close relative of the Eider 

 of Europe, long famous for the valuable eider-down 

 which it produces. In Norway and in Iceland 

 the Eider is jealously protected because of the 

 large revenue derived from the sale of its down, 

 which is collected from the nest. This revenue is 

 obtained by comparatively light labor, without 

 interference with fishing or other occupations, 

 and it is of great importance to the welfare of the 

 inhabitants of the regions where down is obtained. 

 There appears to be no good reason why the Eider 

 of our Canadian coast should not add similarly 

 to the revenue of our people if it received proper 

 protection and if the down from its nests were 

 gathered, cleaned, and sold. Far from receiving 

 such protection in the Gulf of St. Lawrence area, 

 however, the Eider has been mercilessly hunted 

 and its eggs have been taken at every oppor- 

 tunity for decades, so that it was greatly re- 

 duced in numbers. The same is true of many of 

 its neighbors among the sea-birds. Fortunately, 

 Provincial and Federal game laws now afford 

 some relief from this persecution. 



The chief breeding-place of the American Eider 

 in the Gulf of St. Lawrence region is along the 

 north shore of the Gulf. Here are thousands of 

 barren, rocky, uninhabited islands, of all shapes 

 and sizes, which are at present economically 

 useless. On these islands Eiders breed in moderate 

 abundance, in company at times with several 

 other species of protected sea-birds, such as 

 Razor-billed Auks, Common Murres, Puffins, 

 Gulls, and Terns. Here is an excellent, an unusual 



opportunity for the establishment of a series of 

 sanctuaries which will be of great practical value, 

 in that they will cause a few desolate islands, now 

 of no use to any one, to become centers of valuable 

 bird-life, yielding a revenue which will be a price- 

 less boon to the poor inhabitants of the region, 

 and which will doubtless have a marked influence 

 in upbuilding this out-of-the-way part of the 

 Dominion of Canada and the Province of Quebec. 

 There is no doubt, in view of experience in 

 European waters, that the Eider would quickly 

 respond to the special protection which the 

 sacntuaries would afford and would nest on the 

 sanctuary islands in great numbers. Once the 

 eider-down industry had become established in 

 the sanctuaries, under government supervision, 

 it is to be expected that the residents of the coast 

 would voluntarily protect other islands, in order 

 that the industry and the benefits to be derived 

 from it might be increased. 



The plan to establish sanctuaries for the pro- 

 tection of the birds of this coast is far from new. 

 Lt.-Colonel William Wood, F.R.S.C, of Quebec, 

 has repeatedly urged in print* the advisability of 

 setting aside areas for the protaction of the wonder- 

 ful wild life of this region, although he advocated 

 chiefly a large reservation in which all forms of 

 valuable wild life would be protected. While 

 such a reservation would be very desirable, it is 

 felt that, as far as protection of the birds is 

 concerned, a series of reservations of comparatively 

 small size is preferable to one large reservation. 

 The small reservations would be less expensive and 

 less difficult to guard effectively, they would 

 interfere less with the normal activities of the 

 people resident in any area, and yet would extend 

 their benefits more widely. Lt .-Colonel Wood 

 obtained approval of his plan for Labrador 

 Sanctuaries from many persons of note, including 

 Dr. Robert Bell, the Right Hon. James Bryce, 

 Dr. John M. Clarke, Napoleon A. Comeau, 

 George Bird Grinnell, the Hon. Theodore Roose- 

 velt, Ernest Thompson Seton, Alfred Russell 

 Wallace, Sir Robert Baden-Powell, Rudyard 

 Kipling, J. M. Macoun, and his Royal Highness 

 the Duke of Connaught. Dr. Charles W. Town- 

 send, who has often visited the north shore of 

 the Gulf of St. Lawrence, has also published a 

 paper entitled Bird Conservation in Labrador, in 

 which he states that he believes "that the whole 

 problem can be solved most rationally and 



* "Animal Sanctuaries in Labrador," by Lt.-Colonel 

 William Wood, F.R.S.C, Ottawa, 1911. 



Supplement to Animal Sanctuaries in Labrador, by Lt.- 

 Colonel William Wood, F.R.S.C, Ottawa, 1912. 



Draft of a Plan for Beginning Animal Sanctuaries in 

 Labrador, by Lt.-Colonel William Wood, 1913 (?). 



Bird Conservation in Labrador, by Charles Wendell 

 Townsend, M.D., Seventh Ann. Rep. Commission of Conser- 

 vation, Ottawa, 1916. 



