PERCE AND BONA VENTURE 143 



We were now nearing the Gannets ; desiring to 

 secure a picture of a fully occupied ledge, I urged 

 due caution, and advanced quietly to the edge of 

 the cliff. The point was well chosen almost di- 

 rectly beneath us, and about halfway down to the 

 sea, there being a broad, rocky shelf so thickly 

 dotted with nesting Gannets that every bird in the 

 group was within reach of his immediately sur- 

 rounding fellows. 77 It was an astonishing picture 

 of bird life, but only a fragment of what we had 

 beheld from the sea. Under the circumstances, 

 however, this fragment brought more satisfaction 

 than had been before received from the entire Gan- 

 net colony. 



The 4X5" Premo " was now erected, care being 

 taken to make no move which would alarm the 

 birds, and several exposures were made at leisure. 

 Then changing the lens to an old "Henry Clay," 

 and attaching several elastics to the shutter, I pre- 

 pared to make a flight picture of the birds as, at the 

 report of my gun, they left their nests. All ready, 

 I took firm hold of the bulb and gave the word to 

 the captain to fire. 



The result may fairly be called a failure. As far 

 as we could determine, the birds gave no evidence 

 of hearing the shot or the others which followed, and 

 our best efforts did not succeed in making a single 

 Gannet leave its nest. Like Darwin's Hawk and 

 Moseley's Penguins, these birds seemed happily 

 ignorant of man and his ways. One could doubt- 

 less descend to their ledge without causing them to 

 leave it. 



It is conceivable that the wearing of Gannets' 



