THE BIRD ROCKS OF THE GULF OF 

 ST. LAWRENCE 



PERCE AND BONA VENTURE 



I ;!P?>" M ^q HE naturalist realizes with the ut- 

 I ' ■ -W' '■) most sailness that the encroach- 

 Vj I i mi'uts of civilization are rapidly 



I ' ,1 •§ changing the conditions of animal 

 { ^i^g~ I ^^^^ *^^ ^^^^ small si)liere of ours, 



L^S; 1 ="1'^ that soon he may find Nature 



aj--:i«--.ifc*>^ pi'imc^val only in its more remote 



or ina.ccessible parts. 

 Forest life vanishes with the demand for timber, 

 which sends the axeman in advance of the agricul- 

 turist. The tillable plains, prairies, and bottom 

 lands are transformed by the plow. The sandy 

 beaches suffer with an eruption of summer hotels 

 and cottages, and within the confines of civilization 

 only such useless x'ortions of the earth's surface as 

 tlie arid deserts and barren mountain to])s, marshy 

 wastes and rocky or far-distant islets, have been un- 

 altered by man. 



It is especially to the preserving influences of 

 island life that we owe the continued survival of 

 many animals which have greatly decreased or be- 

 come exterminated on the mainland, as has been 

 remarked of the Tei-ns and Heath Hen — two illus- 

 138 



