AMID SPRUCES AND SEA-GIRT ROCKS 185 
them everywhere in the woods; they stand on a branch in 
a thrush-like attitude and chirp, then flit on a little farther 
and again watch. Their nesting-time was now past, but one 
of the party found a nest out on a branch of a spruce, fifteen 
feet from the ground. It was deserted, yet in perfect order, 
and held one blue egg, slightly speckled with brown around 
the larger end. 
Keeper Crowell and his family are ardent protectors of the 
birds. A pretty, well-educated daughter busies herself writing 
and posting notices forbidding people to shoot or rob the 
birds. But it is a losing fight. The island is too big for them 
to watch. The fine colonies have sadly diminished, and there 
seems to be no adequate law to protect them, unless the 
keeper takes the law into his own hands. As he quaintly 
expresses it, when the vandals row around the shore and 
shoot the defenceless breeding “ widgeons,” or Black Guille¬ 
mots, some day he will start out and get his share of the 
gunning, and the boat may accidentally get in range. Once 
he tried this, and the birds were not troubled again for a long 
time. The New Brunswick laws are excellent and well en¬ 
forced, and it is to be hoped that the Nova Scotia people, 
kind and hospitable as I have always found them to be, will 
come to the rescue of this fine family and see to it that a few 
ignorant fishermen are kept from breaking up this and other 
great sea-bird colonies in the Province, and driving from the 
coast the birds which are most useful to the fishing industry 
in locating the schools of fish. 
Storm-bound in trying to reach the island, we were now 
detained upon it a couple of days b}" a protracted calm, 
which deterred the fishermen from setting us ashore. After 
some days, in desperation, we got one to make the attempt, 
and after a long day of drifting we managed to reach the 
mainland. Seal Island, isolated as it is from the world, seen 
