BIRD ISLAND AND SAINT CROIX 193 



its neighbour, otherwise it would appear impossible for 

 each to return to its separate place among such thou- 

 sands of birds. After all, I daresay they wonder how 

 we, who are all so much alike to them, are able to dis- 

 tinguish one another in a crowd, and how we are able to 

 find our own homes. The men at the lighthouse say 

 that these birds arrive in a mass at this, their breeding 

 station, and that when the season is finished the island 

 is untenanted as to bird life until the following year. 



The spectacle was not so imposing as that presented 

 by the Gannets on the Bass Rock in Scotland, where 

 the birds, as seen from a distance, have the appearance 

 of bees swarming round a hive. Here the birds were 

 shown horizontally instead of vertically ; still, it was an 

 imposing sight, and in the distance had the effect of 

 a large extent of ground covered with white flies. 



The weather had improved steadily during the day, 

 and although clouds of white spray could be seen on 

 the sides of the island which faced the open sea, we 

 were told that this was the calmest effect that could 

 be produced here. Our tug was anchored some quarter 

 of a mile off Bird Island, about half of our small number 

 of passengers going ashore, while the others preferred 

 to remain on the tug to try their luck at fishing. 

 Landing was effected without much difficulty, but the 

 seaweed which covered the rocks made the first few 

 steps very difficult, laden as I was with two large 

 cameras and about twenty dark-slides. Before setting 

 to work, I thought it would be well to ask our skipper 

 how long he could give me ; he told me that he would 

 wait for three hours, so I anticipated having plenty 

 of time, although the more one takes of this kind of 



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