AMID SPRUCES AND SEA-GIRT ROCKS 185 



them everywhere in the woods ; they stand on a branch in 

 a thrush-like attitude and chirp, then flit on a little farther 

 and again watch. Their nesting-time was now past, but one 

 of the party found a nest out on a branch of a spruce, fifteen 

 feet from the ground. It was deserted, yet in perfect order, 

 and held one blue egg, slightly speckled with brown around 

 the larger end. 



Keeper Crowell and his family are ardent protectors of the 

 birds. A pretty, well-educated daughter busies herself writing 

 and posting notices forbidding people to shoot or rob the 

 birds. But it is a losing fight. The island is too big for them 

 to watch. The fine colonies have sadly diminished, and there 

 seems to be no adequate law to protect them, unless the 

 keeper takes the law into his own hands. As he quaintly 

 expresses it, when the vandals row around the shore and 

 shoot the defenceless breeding " widgeons," or Black Guille- 

 mots, some day he will start out and get his share of the 

 gunning, and the boat may accidentally get in range. Once 

 he tried this, and the birds were not troubled again for a long 

 time. The New Brunswick laws are excellent and well en- 

 forced, and it is to be hoped that the Nova Scotia people, 

 kind and hospitable as I have always found them to be, will 

 come to the rescue of this fine family and see to it that a few 

 ignorant fishermen are kept from breaking up this and other 

 great sea-bird colonies in the Province, and driving from the 

 coast the birds which are most useful to the fishing industry 

 in locating the schools of fish. 



Storm-bound in trying to reach the island, we were now 

 detained upon it a couple of days by a protracted calm, 

 which deterred the fishermen from setting us ashore. After 

 some days, in desperation, we got one to make the attempt, 

 and after a long day of drifting we managed to reach the 

 mainland. Seal Island, isolated as it is from the world, seen 



