308 CONSERVATION OF CANADIAN WILD LIFE 



habited by the Hghthouse-keeper and his assistants, has been 

 cleared of birds, but the precipitous sides of the rock pro- 

 vide nesting-places for many thousands of several species of 

 searbirds, the chief of which is the gannet. Doctor John 

 M. Clarke, who has taken a very active part in the creation 

 of these reservations, estimated* that, in 1910-1911, the 

 total bird population was probably not less than 15,000, 

 and that the gannets were not decreasing there. 



Bonaventure Island. This island lies about three miles 

 southwest of the village of Perc^, in the county of Gaspe, 

 Quebec. It is roughly circular in outhne, and about three 

 miles in width. Steep cliffs surround the island, and on the 

 southeastern face they rise to a height of 300 to 400 feet. 

 These cliffs on the seaward side of the island, stretching for 

 about a mile and a quarter, form the chief breeding-places 

 of the gannets, murres, razor-billed auks, and puffins. The 

 gannets are by far the most numerous, and the ledges for 

 about half a mile appear to be covered with the snowy- 

 white masses of these birds during the nesting season. Mr. 

 P. A. Tavernerf estimated in 1914 that there were about 

 7,500 birds nesting on Bonaventure Island. 



Perce Rock. Well known to all visitors to the Gaspe 

 Peninsula and the Chaleur Bay, this strikingly shaped 

 rock, with almost perpendicular sides, rising to a height of 

 nearly 400 feet, remarkably coloured, provides nesting-places 

 for innumerable sea-birds, particularly crested cormorants 

 and herring-gulls, which give the top the appearance of snow 

 during the nesting season. 



RESERVE FOR GEESE IN NOVA SCOTIA 



In order to protect the large numbers of wild geese that 

 collect and spend several months in each year in Port Joli 



* "Protection of Sea-Fowl of the Gulf of St. Lawrence," by John M. Clarke. 

 Sixth Annual Report of the Commission of Conservation, 1915, pp. 108-116. 



t " Recommendations for the Creation of Three New National Parks in 

 Canada," by P. A. Taverner. Sixth Annual Report of the Commission of 

 Conservation, 1915, Appendix III, pp. 303-310. 



