^^'^ LIFE OF AUDUBON. 



cation, over they tumble on the deck of their crazed craft, where 

 they pass the short hours of night in turbid slumber. The 

 sun now rises above the snow-clad summit of the eastern mount ; 

 •sweet is the breath of morn,' even in this desolate land. The 

 gay bunting erects his white crest, and gives utterance to the 

 joy he feels in the presence of his brooding mate ; the willow 

 grous on the rock crows his challenge aloud ; each floweret, 

 chilled by the night air, expands its pure petals ; the gentle 

 breeze shakes from the blades of grass the heavy dewdrops. 

 On the Guillemot Isle the birds have again settled, and now 

 renew their loves. Startled by the light of day, one of the 

 eggers springs on his feet, and rouses his companions, who 

 stare around them for awhile, endeavouring to recollect their 

 senses. Mark them, as with clumsy fingers they clear their 

 drowsy eyes ; slowly they rise on their feet. See how the 

 lubbers stretch out their arms and yawn; you shrink back, 

 for verily 'that throat might frighten a shark.' But the 

 master, soon recollecting that so many eggs are worth a dollar 

 or a crown, casts his eye towards the rock, marks the day in 

 his memory, and gives orders to depart. The light breeze 

 enables them to reach another harbour, a few miles distant ; one 

 which, like the last, lies concealed from the ocean by some 

 other rocky isle. Arrived there, they react the scene of 

 yesterday, crushing every egg they can find. For a week each 

 night is passed in drunkenness and brawls, until, having reached 

 the last breeding-place on the coast, they return, touch at every 

 isle in succession, shoot as many birds as they need, collect the 

 fresh eggs, and lay in a cargo. At every step each ruffian picks 

 up an egg, so beautiful that any man with a feeling heart 

 would pause to consider the motive which could induce him to 

 carry it off. But nothing of this sort occurs to the egger, who 

 gathers and gathers until he has swept the rock bare. The 

 dollars alone chink in his sordid mind, and he assiduously plies 

 the trade which no man would ply who had the talents and 

 industiy to procure subsistence by honourable means. With a 

 bark nearly filled with fresh eggs they proceed to the principal 

 rock, that on which they first landed. But what is their surprise 

 when they find others there helping themselves as industriously 

 as they can ! In boiling rage they charge their guns, and ply 



