A NATURALIST 



1\ IHK 



MAGDALEN ISLANDS 



CHAPTER I. 



THK ma(.;dale\' islands. 



On the 17th of July, 1878, as the first streaks of light 

 became visible in the east, I climbed to the deck of the 

 schooner '^' Stewart " and saw for the first time that terra 

 incognita, the Magdalen Islands, rising from the sea about 

 ten miles to the west, and stretching northward until they 

 faded away in a faint, misty line. What ornithologist does 

 not feel a keen sense of pleasure upon visiting a new field 

 of study? and as I gazed upon the gradually nearing land 

 I experienced the feelings of a miner journeying to some 

 supposed El Dorado, awaiting with a keen anxiety for the 

 moment to arrive when I could begin the exploration of its 

 treasures. 



