REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR I914 27 



Then it was the Gloucester fisherman and ** egger " who was carry- 

 ing away the eggs by the hundreds of thousands every year, to be 

 sold in the Boston and New York markets. Such yandal procedures 

 lessened in extent as the Gloucestermen left these waters but the 

 lessened possibilities of reproduction have nevertheless vacated all 

 the islands and cliffs in the St Lawrence of these birds except for 

 the colonies named above. 



Of these three populated islands two have the same coterie of 

 bird citizens : the Bird Rocks of the Magdalens, in the heart of the 

 gulf, and Bonaventure island, 3 miles off the Gaspe coast at Perce. 

 In them both the Gannet predominates ; and with this beautiful 

 bird are associated the Kittiwake, Guillemot and Murre, the Razor- 

 bill auk and the diminutive Puffin ; a venerable association from 

 w^hich only the Great auk is missing. The Bird Rocks colony is on 

 the ledges of a most isolated solitude in the very heart of the gulf, 

 and yet this fact has not protected its population from decimation. 

 Lovers of bird life who have studied the spot estimate its present 

 census as not above 15,000 for all birds and it is more than doubt- 

 ful if the Gannet constitutes one-half of this number. The stories 

 of the old days led the reader to believe that the birds were with- 

 out number and it is evident that in Audubon's day the number was 

 many times greater than now. 



The colony on Bonaventure island has, on the other hand, ob- 

 viously grown in the number of its gannets within the writer's 

 personal acquaintance with it during the past ten years or more. 

 Today the Gannet colony of Bonaventure island is the largest in 

 America. It is lodged on the seaward steep ledges of the island 

 but while its cliffs are steep and difficult of access, its nearness 

 to the mainland with latter day conveniences of motor boat travel 

 menaces its integrity and every season the cliffs are befouled with 

 the brutal destruction of the birds by the tourist, the fool with a 

 gun who can not be restrained from shooting into the beautiful 

 array upon the cliffs merely to see how many birds he can kill. 



The Perce rock at Perce presents a different bird colony com- 

 posed of only two elements, -the Herring gull and the Crested cor- 

 morant. It is needless to describe the majesty and wondrous 

 beauty of this great insulated stock ; its features are without parallel. 

 On its summit only, nest these two species of birds, close to the 

 habitations of men, and growing fewer in number because 'of it. 



The issue- (long hoped for by many friends of these relict col- 

 onies) as to whether these birds were to have the protecting arm 

 of government thrown about them, through passage of some penal- 



