MopeERN CiiFrF-DWELLERS 
frequently falling fragments, we climbed up the pile 
of loose rocks that sloped at a steep incline of more 
than forty-five degrees, and got about half way up 
the cliff. There we could see a number of the 
nests of the Raven, platforms of crooked sticks, 
placed on ledges of the rocks or at the entrance of 
small caves. One nest in particular was very large, 
almost like an Osprey’s. None seemed to be lower 
down than somewhat above the top of the pile of 
debris, and the upper ones were not over fifteen feet 
or so below the summit of the cliff. Some of the 
young fishermen, I am told, think nothing of 
climbing down a rope to get Ravens’ eggs. For 
my part I felt no inclination to try it, as, mid-way 
on the cliff, I gazed up and down the dizzy height, 
and finally picked my way down the rocks. Of 
course by this time the young were all awing, as 
the eggs are laid in the latter part of March or 
early in April. 
There was no possibility here of reaching the 
nests of the Black Guillemot, but, fortunately, they 
were less inaccessible in certain other places. All 
over the Magdalen Islands scattered pairs nest in the 
caves that the sea washes out in the sandstone banks or 
cliffs. In one cave near our headquarters a pair had 
their two handsome spotted eggs on the bare rock 
of a little shelf, about as high as one could reach 
above the water. The only way to get at them was 
on a very calm day to row a boat right into the 
cave. As the inevitable swell rolled in after the 
boat, suggesting the effect that a larger wave might 
produce, the inclination was not unnatutial to get 
out of the uncanny place as quickly as possible. 
85 
