64 Bird - Lore 



Common Terns are robbed in certain localities by the fishermen, but the 

 regioQ is so wild that it would be hard to stop it. 1 examined a fine breed- 

 ing colony of Ring-necked Plovers. Various ducks are breeding numerously, 

 notably the Red-breasted Merganser and the Black Duck. 



"At Bird Rock the colony has decidedly increased. The keeper thinks 

 there are ten thousand birds there. Certainly there are more than when 

 I was there in 1900. The greatest increase is with the Kittiwakes, and 

 the Gannets are also doing finely. The usual ledges are crowded with the 

 latter, and North Bird Rock is white with them. Only the Puffins have 

 not quite held their own, though they have not been disturbed. Not 

 a soul had molested the birds this season at the time of our visit, — 

 June 23 to 25. The keeper has been ordered by the British Government 

 to let no one trouble the birds, yet he hesitates to enforce this absolutely, 

 as he is left largely dependent upon the courtesy of the crews of vessels who 

 land. Previous to our arrival he had seen no one — with one exception, 

 in May — since the previous November, when the government supply 

 steamer had called. 



"It is remarkable that the birds have so increased, since during the 

 summer of 1903 a gang of workmen were engaged in blasting out 

 a cut into the west side of the Rock, where is being built a stairway, a 

 landing-jetty and a track up which boats are to be drawn by a steam 

 winch to the top. These improvements were to have been completed 

 this season. Henceforth it will be easier to ascend the Rock, yet, until 

 the Gulf of St. Lawrence meets with ' a change of heart,' reaching the 

 Rock and landing will still be uncertain and dangerous. The vessel 

 we engaged failed to appear, and our party, rather than give up, after 

 having come so far, made the trip from Grosse Isle in an open boat, 

 at the risk of our lives. 



"On Seal Island, Nova Scotia, the once fine colony of the Herring 

 Gulls is in a very bad way. Keeper Crowell and his talented daughter, 

 Bernice, do all they can to protect the birds, but the island is too 

 large for them to watch, being some three miles in length. Fishermen 

 land and rob them, and as late as early July, when I was there, very 

 few nests had eggs, and only one young Gull had been seen. The 

 old Gulls are as wild as hawks. The colony has decreased 75 per cent, 

 I think, since my visit there eight years ago. The Common or Arctic 

 Tern colonies are also suffering, but the Black Guillemots are still 

 numerous because, being mostly near the light-house, they are guarded by 

 the Crowells. It is too bad to leave this good family unaided to carry 

 on this unequal struggle to save these beautiful birds from ignorant, sense- 

 less vandalism. The Nova Scotians are fine people, and they ought 

 not to allow themselves to lag behind New Brunswick in the matter 

 of bird protection." 



