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A BI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE 



DEVOTED TO THE STUDY AND PROTECTION OF BIRDS 



Official Organ of The Audubon Societies 



Vol. XXIV May— June, 1922 No. 3 



Bonaventure Island and Perce Rock 



By HARRISON F. LEWIS 

 Chief Federal Migratory Bird Officer, Ontario and Quebec 



A COMPARATIVELY small proportion of the bird-lovers of North 

 America have been able to visit the great breeding-colonies of our sea- 

 birds. Persons living near the coast or near the Great Lakes may be 

 able to visit the nesting-places of some species, but most of our bird students, 

 if they are situated where they see sea-birds at all, know them as birds of 

 passage. The reading of vivid pen-pictures of Laysan Island or Great Bird 

 Rock naturally arouses a strong desire to see such wonderful bird nurseries for 

 oneseK, but these breeding-places, Hke most of those chosen by sea-birds, 

 are secluded, distant, and difficult of access. A brief account of a great sea- 

 bird colony, as yet but little known to the public, which can be visited with 

 ease and comfort, may therefore be of interest. 



Bonaventure Island and Perce Rock have been visited each spring, for 

 uncounted centuries, by many thousands of sea-birds of several different 

 species, which there lay their eggs and raise their young. These islands are 

 situated near the eastern extremity of the Gaspe Peninsula, in the Province of 

 Quebec, Canada. The distance from the village of Perce, on the mainland, to 

 Perce Rock, is but a few hundred yards, while from Perce to Bonaventure 

 Island is about three miles. Bonaventure Island is about three miles long and 

 a mUe-and-a-half broad. On its seaward side are great cliffs of red sandstone, 

 whose broad ledges form secure nesting-places for throngs of sea-birds. Perce 

 Rock is a unique, isolated limestone mass, about 1500 feet long, 300 feet wide, 

 and 288 feet high at its highest point. It derives its name from the fact that 

 it is pierced by a great natural archway, 80 feet in span, through which one 

 may pass in a small boat. Its beauty is enhanced by its display of a great 

 variety of brUhant coloring. As its perpendicular sides are unscalable, its 

 top provides a safe retreat of which the birds have not failed to take advantage. 

 Both Perce Rock and the cliffs of Bonaventure Island are maintained and 

 guarded as bird sanctuaries by the Department of the Interior, Dominion of 

 Canada, and the Province of Quebec. 



Beyond doubt the most impressive, interesting, and unusual birds which 



