354 AUDUBON 



not seen. Uria troile'^ and U.grylle'^ were breeding in the 

 rocks, and John saw several Ardea herodias ^ flying in pairs, 

 also a pair of Red-breasted Mergansers that had glutted 

 themselves with fish so that they were obliged to disgorge 

 before they could fly off. Amongst the plants the wild 

 gooseberry, nearly the size of a green pea, was plentiful, 

 and the black currant, I think of a different species from 

 the one found in Maine. The wind rose and we returned 

 on board. John and the sailors almost killed a Seal with 

 their oars. 



Jiiiie 12. At four this morning we were in sight of the 

 Magdalene Islands, or, as they are called on the chart, 

 Amherst Islands ; they appeared to be distant about twenty 

 miles. The weather was dull and quite calm, and I thought 

 the prospect of reaching these isles this day very doubtful, 

 and returned to my berth sadly disappointed. After break- 

 fast a thick fog covered the horizon on our bow, the islands 

 disappeared from sight, and the wind rose sluggishl}-, and 

 dead ahead. Several brigs and ships loaded with lumber 

 out from Miramichi came near us, beating their way 

 towards the Atlantic. We are still in a great degree land- 

 locked by Cape Breton Island, the highlands of which look 

 dreary and forbidding; it is now nine A. M., and wc are 

 at anchor in four fathoms of water, and within a quarter of 

 a mile of an island, one of the general group; for our pilot, 

 who has been here for ten successive years, informs us that 

 all these islands are connected by dry sand-bars, with- 

 out any other ship channel between them than the one 

 which we have taken, and which is called Entree Bay, 

 formed by Entree Island and a long, sandy, projecting reef 

 connected with the main island. This latter measures forty- 

 eight miles in length, by an average of about three in 

 breadth ; Entree Island contains about fifteen hundred 

 acres of land, such as it is, of a red, rough, sandy formation, 

 the northwest side constantly falling into the sea, and ex- 

 1 Foolish Guillemot. * Black Guillemot. ' Great Blue Heron. 



