AMONG THE WaTER FowtL 
cast up for them. . Again, they gather together: 
either in buoyant flocks upon the water, or to dress 
their spotless plumage upon the strand. The loss 
would be unutterable were this fleet to be lost in 
the gale of fashion upon the cruel rocks of a selfish 
and senseless millinery decree. 
Social in disposition, it is the universal habit of 
these dainty creatures to resort together in large 
colonies at the nesting-season for the rearing of 
their young; and of all the picturesque spots on 
earth, I place in very high rank ‘certam) et athese 
breeding-colonies. One there is in Nova Scotia, 
which seems to me to be particularly beautiful. 
With two companions, I stood one clear, calm 
morning of early September, upon a wharf at 
Clarke’s Harbor, Cape Sable Island) listeninteate 
the tale of woe of our would-be fisherman-skipper, 
as he portrayed the impossibility of reaching Seal 
Island, twenty miles out to sea, against strong head 
tides, and with what little wind there was also con- 
trary. This was our last chance to make the trip, 
and I could not*bear to abandon ut. "So, aitem the 
prophet of evil had departed, I proposed that we 
start off without him in the twenty-three-foot sloop. 
It was slow work, but at length we sighted the rocky 
shores and spruce-grown area; and by sundown 
the sloop was anchored off a cove, and we were 
receiving the royal hospitality of kind-hearted John 
Crowell, the light-house keeper. 
Before sunrise next morning we were in the 
light-house tower. The cold, dark sea, foam-flecked, 
spread out beyond, the shores of Nova Scotia dimly 
visible to the northeast. Before us stretched the 
132 
