THE BIRD ROCKS OF THE GULF OF 

 ST. LAWRENCE 



PERCE AND BONAVENTURE 



. HE naturalist realizes with the ut- 

 most sadness that the encroach- 

 ments of civilization are rapidly 

 changing the conditions of animal 

 life on this small sphere of ours, 

 and that soon he may find Nature 

 primeval only in its more remote 

 or inaccessible parts. 



Forest life vanishes with the demand for timber, 

 which sends the axeman in advance of the agricul- 

 turist. The tillable plains, prairies, and bottom 

 lands are transformed by the plow. The sandy 

 beaches suffer with an eruption of summer hotels 

 and cottages, and within the confines of civilization 

 only such useless portions of the earth's surface as 

 the arid deserts and barren mountain tops, marshy 

 wastes and rocky or far-distant islets, have been un- 

 altered by man. 



It is especially to the preserving influences of 

 island life that we owe the continued survival of 

 many animals which have greatly decreased or be- 

 come exterminated on the mainland, as has been 

 remarked of the Terns and Heath Hen two illus- 

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