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RANDOM NOTES ON NATURAL HISTORY. 



53 



conditions of weather, appearing in perfect 

 IB altitudes, only to disappear again so soon 

 as tlie breeding season is over, and the 

 droughts of summer begin. It is thought 

 that they burrow to some depth in the soft 

 soil of the lowlands, and there remain in a 

 partially torpid state until urged into activ- 

 tity bv he advent of a genial spring. 



The BreedinsiPlaces of M]ipns of Sea- 

 FqwI- 



/ 



At sunset we bade the land good-bye at 

 Sea AVolf Island, and laid our course for 

 Bird Rock, in the mighty Gulf of St. 

 Lawrence. All night and all next day not 

 a sheet was touched, the wind holding fair 

 and steady, and at dark we shortened sail 

 that we might not run by the rock in the 

 night, or worse yet, run into it. Our pilot 

 was a 30ung fellow of eight3'-one, who all 

 his life had been a fisherman, and had been 

 to the Labrador coast so man}' times that 

 he had lost the record. Coming on deck that 

 evening, I found the staunch old man on the 

 lookout forward, as we had sworn friend- 

 ship before this. We sat and talked as the 

 schooner slipped quieth' along through the 

 dark water. 



I told him of how, in boyhood's da^'s, I 

 had read of the great Bird Rock in Audu- 

 bon ; how in later 3'ears, in distant lands, I 

 _ had visited the breeding places of man}' 



F different birds, but this rock was my earli- 

 est love, and of m}- anxiet}" to see it. 

 Touched by m}^ eloquence, the old man 

 swore he would make no errors, and that 

 next morning early we would be there. 

 •' For," said he, " with the wind a leetle 

 in mv favor, I can smell it twenty-five mile 

 off."' 



With which assurance I was fain to 

 trust to him and turn in, and sure enough 

 at daylight there was the great rock loom- 

 ing up ahead, and what a sight it was, well 

 worth the trip for itself alone. Many able 

 pens have described it, and, as I think, hav- 

 ing seen it, with poor success, so I will not 

 attempt it ; but j'ou must try to imagine a 

 high, triangular-shaped rock, with precip- 

 itous sides 400 feet in height, towering up 

 in the loneh^ waste of waters, fifty miles or 

 so from the nearest land, each face of the 



rock a half a mile in length. Against its 

 foot the waves break and roar eternally, 

 and all the seams and ledges of its steep 

 face above the seething sea are white with 

 breeding sea-birds, as though a heavy snow- 

 storm had just visited it, and all the air 

 around it for miles is filled with fl3'ing, 

 circling, plunging sea-fowl. Here, for ages 

 past, the gannets, gulls, auks, guillemots or 

 murres, etc., have nested in safet}', as 

 numberless as the blades of grass of a vast 

 prairie. 



It was a sight to see. not to describe, and 

 the most thoughtless youngster on board 

 gazed in wonder at a scene I warrant he 

 will not forget. 



(The Canadian government has now, at 

 great expense, placed a lighten the summit 

 of the rock, and the birds, alas ! will have 

 to scatter, and find another resting-place. 

 Where they ma3' go it is hard to sa3', for 

 there is none so secure as that. Vast num- 

 bers will linger there for 3ears to come, no 

 doubt, but the bulk of them will seek new 

 quarters. 



At Murr Rocks, behind which we ran for 

 shelter, we found a couple of fishermen's 

 huts, and going ashore we bought several 

 bucketfuls of murrs' eggs, which had been 

 gathered earlier in the season, and put in 

 brine. In this wa3' they keep good a 3ear. 

 The way fresh eggs are made sure of is 

 this : A party visits the rock on which the 

 birds breed b3' the tens of thousands, se- 

 lecting a place of an acre or so, the3' smash 

 ever3- egg on it. Marking the spot, the}' 

 go again in a couple of da3's, and all the 

 eggs the3' find there are of course fresh. In 

 former years a regular business was car- 

 ried on by the eggers, and vessels were 

 loaded with them for the Canadian markets. 

 This wasteful method promised soon to ex- 

 terminate the birds, and the Canadian gov- 

 ernment very properly put a stop to it. 

 Now they are once more abundant, and 

 supply the natives with a very important 

 item of food. The murr egg is one of the 

 most curious in nature. It is as large as a 

 domestic duck's, but pear-shaped ; the 

 ground color is either green or white, and it 

 is dotted, splashed, and streaked with 

 blotches and lines of black and dark um- 

 ber. Each bird lays one egg on the bare 

 rock. — Deck, in Proc. Suuday Tele</niiii. 



