80 



The Canadian Field-Naturaust 



[Vol. XXXIV. 



ing hours looking through her powerful telescope 

 from the piazza of her house on Cape Cannon. 



Bonaventure Island, is three miles distant from 

 Perce and is of still greater value and importance. 

 It is about three miles long and a mile and a half 

 broad. The outer side faces the sea in sheer cliffs 

 of horizontal strata of red conglomerate and sand- 

 stone four and five hundred feet high. On the 

 cliffs and niches and along the shelves, tier above 

 tier nest a very large and notable collection of water 

 birds. The most important of these in size and num- 

 bers are the Gannets which are most numerous to- 

 wards the southern end. Mr. Taverner has esti- 

 mated their numbers to be 8,000. Hevring Gulls 

 breed on the cliffs to the number of several hun- 

 dreds if not thousands. A smaller number of Kitti- 

 wakes nest near the northern end of this outer side 

 of the island on vertical cliffs that possess but few 

 and small niches. Murres and Razor-billed Auks, 

 perhaps 500 pairs of the former and 100 of the 

 latter also lay their eggs on the cliffs. A small 

 number of Puffins and a few Black Guillemots are 

 also breeders there, while in the holes and crevices 

 on top of the cliffs Leache's Petrels nest. No 

 Cormorants breed here but visitors from Perce 

 Rock may often be seen. 



I visited Bonaventure Island three times, passing 

 in a motor boat close under the cliffs and camping 

 and spending two days on each of the first two 

 occasions; the last time I spent only the day. It is 

 possible to take up a position on the edge of the 

 cliffs where one can sweep with a glass, tier on 

 tier of nesting Gannets and be within thirty feet of 

 the nearest. As they fly by they are almost within 

 arm's reach. With an eight power prismatic bin- 

 ocular and a thirty power telescope I spent many 

 hours watching these birds. With the expert aid 

 of Willie Duval, descendant of of Captain Peter 

 John Duval the original owner of the island, I was 

 able to climb a hundred feet or more up the cliffs 

 from below and crawl along a ledge close to Puffins 

 and Murres. Mr. Taverner^ has vividly described 

 such an adventure. 



Annotated List. 



1 . Cavia immcT. Loon. 



One flying by Bonaventure Island. Mr. Tav- 

 erner reported a few. 



2. Fratcrcula arctica arctica. Puffin. 



Thirty or forty pairs of these birds breed in 

 the deep clefts or holes in the cliffs of Bona- 

 venture Island, mostly at the northern end of 

 the eastern cliffs. 



3. Ccpphus grille. Black Guillemot. 



Common and very tame all along the rock 

 shores, breeding in holes and in the clefts bc- 



M) Ottawa NaturallBt, XXXH. 21-26. 



tween the strata of the rocks. Young were 

 first seen in the water August 1st. 



4. Uria troille iroille. Murre. 



About five hundred pairs breed at Bonaventure 

 Island. I met with them at other places on the 

 coast, but do not know whether they breed 

 away from the island or not. Several times 

 I saw Gannets that had alighted in the same 

 niche in the cliffs drive the Murres out. Mr. 

 Taverner reports seeing a number of ringvia. 



5. Alca tor da. Razor-billed Auk. 



Perhaps a hundred pairs breed at Bonaven- 

 ture Island. They were to be seen singly, 

 sometimes among the Gannets and in compan- 

 ies of two or three often with Murres in clefts 

 or ledges smaller than those frequented by the 

 Gannets. Flocks of ten or fifteen Murres on 

 the water generally included one or two Razor- 

 billed Auks. 



6. Rissa iridaciyla iridactyila. Kittiwake. 



About 400 breed on the northern face of 

 Perce Rock near the arch and about as many 

 on the cliffs of Bonaventure Island. 



7. Larus marinus. Great Black-backed Gull. 



A few seen in July. More common in August. 

 No evidence of breeding. 



8. Larus argentatus. Herring Gull. 



Abundant. Breeds on the top of Perce Rock 

 to the number of about 2,000, on the cliffs of 

 Bonaventure Island and the Murailles at 

 Perce, on the sea cliffs below Mt. St. Albans 

 and on the Bon Ami cliffs near Grand Greve 

 and doubtless on many other cliffs of the 

 Peninsula. 

 Cod fishing is the chief industry of the coast and 

 the fish are cleaned and split at tables on the beach- 

 es or on fishing stages. The heads and entrails are 

 left where they fall and are eagerly sought by Her- 

 ring Gulls, who gather when the fish are brought in, 

 and do important work as scavengers. They are very 

 tame and may often be seen searching for scraps 

 on empty boats riding at anchor. I have counted 

 as many as 30 on one boat. Until the young are 

 on the wing none but full plumaged adults are to 

 be seen ; no birds with black tips to their tails were 

 found in these flocks. The young appeared in the 

 air the last week in July. 



A cloud of Herring Gulls, was constantly flying 

 about Perce Rock and their cries were always to 

 be heard by day and frequently by night. The 

 bugle-like courtship song frequently resounded and 

 fighting among the adults on the Rock was fre- 

 quent. 



(To be continued.) 



