BIRD ROCK 189 



that takes them wholly out of sight, and splashes the 

 water ten feet or more into the air. Cory graphi- 

 cally compares the sight of a distant flock of Gannets 

 diving at a school of fish, to a continuous stream of 

 beans poured from a pail. 



Captain Bourque tells me that Gannets are no 

 longer used for bait by the codfishers ; but when one 

 realizes that only two colonies of these grand birds, 

 comprising a few thousand individuals, are all that 

 are left of the species in this hemisphere, one could 

 wish for these survivors something more than nega- 

 tive protection. 



In the afternoon the weather gave promise of 

 clearing, and entering the crate we were swung out 

 over the edge of the Rock on the first stage of our 

 homeward journey. The collections and outfit were 

 placed aboard the schooner, while in a dory we 

 attempted to visit Little Bird ; but before we had 

 rowed a quarter of a mile the fog crept back, Great 

 Bird slowly disappeared from view and became only 

 a periodic boom in the gray wall, and we returned 

 to the schooner without delay. 



The sail to Bryon, where we passed the night, ap- 

 parently demonstrated Captain Taker's possession of 

 the sense of direction. In spite of a head wind, 

 violent squalls, and a strong tide, he made his way 

 through the fog with perfect assurance and dropped 

 anchor at a particular lobster buoy, visible less than 

 fifty yards from the schooner, but which in effect he 

 appeared to have seen before we left the Rock. It 

 was a remarkable bit of seamanship. 



In Bird Rock the Canadian Government possesses 

 an object of surpassing interest, one which, south of 



