106 PUFFIN. 



of a great wave, we reached the first rocks, leaped out in an instant, and 

 held our boat, while the angry waters rolled back and left it on the land. 

 After securing the boat, we reached with a few steps the green sward, 

 and directly before us found abundance of Puffins. Some already alarmed 

 flew past us with the speed of an arrow, others stood erect at the entrance 

 of their burrows, while some more timid withdrew within their holes as 

 we advanced towards them. In the course of half an hour we obtained a 

 good number. The poor things seemed not at all aware of the effect of 

 guns, for they would fly straight towards us as often as in any other di- 

 rection ; but after a while they became more knowing, and avoided us 

 with more care. We procured some eggs, and as no young ones were yet 

 to be found, we went off" satisfied. The soil was so light, and so easily 

 dug, that many of the burrows extended to the depth of five or six feet, 

 although not more than a few inches below the surface, and some of the 

 poor birds underwent a temporary imprisonment in consequence of the 

 ground giving way under our weight. The whole island was perforated 

 like a rabbit-warren, and every hole had its entrance placed due south, a 

 circumstance which allowed the birds to emerge in our sight almost all at 

 once, presenting a spectacle highly gratifying to us all. Our visit to this 

 island took place on the 28th of June 1833. 



On the 12th of August, the day after my son procured the two Jer- 

 falcons mentioned in the second volume of this work, our Captain, my 

 friends George Shattuck and William Ikgalls, with four sailors, 

 and another boat in company, went on a visit to " Perroket Island," dis- 

 tant about two miles from the harbour of Bras d'Or. The place is known 

 to all the cod-fishers, and is celebrated for the number of Puffins that an- 

 nually breed there. As we rowed towards it, although we found the water 

 literally covered with thousands of these birds, the number that flew over 

 and around the green island seemed much greater, insomuch that one might 

 have imagined half the Puffins in the world had assembled there. This far- 

 famed isle is of considerable extent, its shores are guarded by numberless 

 blocks of rock, and within a few yards of it the water is several fathoms in 

 depth. The ground rises in the form of an amphitheatre to the height of 

 about seventy feet, the greatest length being from north to south, and its 

 southern extremity fronting the Streight of Belleisle. For every burrow in 

 the island previously visited by us there seemed to be a hundred here, on 

 every crag or stone stood a Puffin, at the entrance of each hole another, 

 and yet the sea was covered and the air filled by them. I had two double- 



