AMBROSE ON BIRDS FREQUENTING ST. MARGAREt's BAY. 57 



They were rescued by another boat's crew with much difficulty, 

 having lost everything in their own boat. 



Two others were coming in, on another occasion, after a morn- 

 ing's shooting, when they saw a heavy sea approaching. *'Hold 

 on!" said one, "and we shall get a runner." But the sea, instead 

 of running them in towards the shore, broke upon their boat, and 

 washed one overboard. The other threw him an oar, leaving him- 

 self but one, by which the boat was unmanageable. Another boat, 

 however, rescued both men from their perilous situation. 



A boat's crew on these shooting excursions will generally bring 

 in from two or three to twenty or thirty birds, according to the 

 position of the boat and the skill of the fowler. But at points 

 further out along the coast, such as Green Island, Horse-shoe 

 Ledge or Betty's Island, as many as forty or fifty birds are not 

 unfrequently brought home by one boat in a morning. 



At the first settlement of the shore, birds were much more 

 numerous than at present. As the population increased, the num- 

 ber of birds fell ofi" rapidly ; but this decline was at length discov- 

 ered to proceed more from the club than the gun. For many 

 years vessels had been allowed to load with sea-bii'ds' eggs at the 

 various breeding islands between Nova Scotia and Labrador, through 

 the entire period of incubation, and this egg-gathering was too 

 frequently attended by the wanton and wholesale destruction of the 

 parent birds. From the beginning of the breeding season' to the 

 end of it, these islands and rocks were continually visited, all fresh 

 eggs were taken away, and all stale ones broken. At length some 

 wholesome and necessary restrictions on the egg trade were put in 

 force by the Canadian legislature, since which time the birds, though 

 more wary, are not decreasing in numbers so rapidly as formerly. 

 A future generation will see the necessity of reasonable protection 

 for the reproduction of birds and fish, and necessity may inspire the 

 firmness requisite for the impartial execution of such protective 

 edicts. 



The shooting of sea-birds is not only a soiu'ce of profit to our 

 fishermen, and a means of providing them with an agreeable variety 

 at their frugal board, but it also reheves a great deal of the tedium 

 of their winter season of inactivity. It is surprising, however, that 

 accidents do not more frequently happen from their mode of charg- 

 7 



