172 WILD LIFE PROTECTION FUND 



ment. The order was therefore rescinded until such time 

 as an examination of the diet of the cormorants might de- 

 termine whether and to what extent the young salmon were 

 their food. 



This investigation was started the following summer 

 under the auspices of the Geological Survey of Canada which 

 sent to the coast Mr. Taverner and his assistants. Mr. 

 Taverner was engaged for the entire season and part of the 

 following season in this examination and carried his studies 

 still further amongst the nesting birds of Perce Rock and 

 Bonaventure Island. He did not, however, visit the Bird 

 Rocks of the Magdalen Islands. In due course Mr. Taverner 

 made his report, quashing the indictment against the cor- 

 morant. Meanwhile, in the winter interval, I was asked by 

 the Commission of Conservation at Ottawa to go there and 

 present the cause of the birds with a view to their protection 

 by the Federal Government. This I did and found a general 

 sentiment of enthusiastic cooperation. 



I had a definite plan for working the project out in spite 

 of the difficulties presented by the control of the bird islands 

 involved. This was an interesting situation ; all three Islands 

 were a part of the Province of Quebec. The Bird Rock, 

 however, had been taken by the Federal Government for 

 lighthouse purposes; Bonaventure Island was privately 

 owned and the Perce Rock was still Crown Land subject to 

 the civic control of the Province of Quebec. The general 

 proposition of the Commission of Conservation was to bring 

 the three together under a wardenship to be controlled at 

 Ottawa, either by them or by the Canadian Bureau of Parks. 

 I received genuine support from the Bureau of Parks. The 

 Director assured me that they had the right to constitute 

 such a park and the Commission of Conservation had money 

 enough to acquire from the private owners the necessary 

 properties for purposes of control. I was thereupon author- 

 ized by the Commission of Conservation to proceed with the 

 taking of title to the private lands on Bonaventure Island, 

 a project which was to be worked out economically by the 



