MODERN CLIFF-DWELLERS 



Soon, the dory landed, and, bidding our friends 

 good-bye, bag and baggage we were lowered down 

 in the crate. I photographed the crate, and then 

 the cliffs and the hoisting apparatus as seen from 

 the dory. Soon we were on board the schooner 

 and were scudding rapidly southward with free 

 sheets, many of the birds following us in farewell 

 salute, while other salutations came through bomb 

 and flag, and we waved back expressions of our 

 friendly feeling for the brave spirits imprisoned 

 upon that grim, lonely rock. 



To complete our study of the Cliff-Dwellers at 

 the Magdalen Islands, several species that did not 

 breed at Bird Rock had to be followed up. One 

 was the Cormorant, that near relative of the 

 Gannet, which differs from it, in colour, about as 

 darkness from light. Evidently they were not 

 plenty, for all we saw were an occasional one or 

 two flying over the Bay inside Grand Entry, usually 

 headed toward Shag Rock. Unlike the Gannets, 

 too, they are exceedingly shy. All that I have ever 

 met, here or elsewhere, that came near enough to 

 be identified, were the Double-crested species. The 

 so-called "Common" kind seems to be a very 

 elusive bird, unless it be in the far north. 



Evidently Shag Rock must be our destination, 

 if we were to see much of the Cormorants. So one 

 morning, with high hopes, we started put in the 

 fisherman's boat for that grim little rock twenty miles 

 to the westward. Unfortunately the wind soon hauled 

 out ahead and died away completely. So, after get- 



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