REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR I914 33 



During the past summer, at the instance of the Natural History 

 Survey, Mr P. A. Taverner, with his assistants, made a special 

 study of this colony, the breeding habits of the birds, and endeavored 

 to make an approximate count of the number of birds there living. 

 Again the Gannet is paramount in numbers, and I believe I am 

 correct in stating Mr Taverner's judgment, subject to reservation 

 and oorrecti'on, that the Gannet population on the island is approx- 

 imately between 7000 and 8000. This is a very much larger num- 

 ber than is assigned to the gannets of the Bird Rock colony and 

 intimates that the Bonaventure colony as a whole (assuming that 

 there is approximately the same numerical relation amongst the 

 other species there nesting) is by very much the largest colony of 

 these waterfowl in the gulf, and hence on the Atlantic coast of 

 North America. 



This colony finds its nesting places on the vertical eastern ledges 

 of Bonaventure island, which rise sheer to a height of about 400 

 feet, and they stretch over a length of about a mile and a quarter. 

 They are well protected from above, but now that the day of the 

 motor boat has arrived, they are bare and exposed from below, 

 and the destruction which has been inflicted upon them of late 

 years by '' the fool with a gun " has been appalling. This state- 

 ment will, I believe, be verified by the investigations and reports 

 of Mr Taverner. 



The protection of this very remarkable, if not altogether unique 

 nesting place, presents some provisional obstacles in the way of 

 administration. I have secured from the property owners a pro- 

 visional promise to deed the ends of their lots bounding the bird 

 ledges in exchange for the construction of a fence near the edge 

 of the cliff which would prevent their sheep and cattle from falling 

 over. I am prepared to assure the erection of this fence, but the 

 proper administration of this property thus deeded for a specific 

 purpose and the maintenance of a warden are matters still open 

 for determination. If it lies within the powers of the Division 

 of Parks to assume protection of these bird ledges as such, without 

 incursion upon the property rights of the owners of the land, such 

 action would, in my judgment, be the simplest solution of what has 

 appeared to me a somewhat complicated problem. 



Because of the accessibility of this colony, its great and ap- 

 parently increasing size, it is now recognized as one of the wonders 

 of the gulf coast and is daily visited during the tourist season ; 

 all of which facts seem to demand early and vigilant action for 

 its protection. 



Perce rock 



Perce rock, off the village of Perce, constituting the most dramatic 

 scenic feature on all the Atlantic coast, is the abode of a colony 

 composed of two species, namely, the Herring guU and the Crested 

 cormorant. This ancient and venerable assemblage has been here 

 since the beginnings of human history on the coast, and the upper 



2 



