PERCE AND BONAVENTURE 129 



trations among hundreds that might be given. Cer- 

 tain animals, therefore, are not only more abundant 

 on islands, but, if their home be not shared by man, 

 they exhibit a tameness surprising to one who has 

 known only the timid, man-fearing creatures of the 

 mainland. 



On several i^ninhabited West Indian islets the 

 sailors of Columbus killed Pigeons and other birds 

 with sticks, or caught them in their hands. Dar- 

 win writes of the " extreme tameness " of the birds 

 of the Galajjagos, and tells of pushing a Hawk off 

 its perch with the muzzle of his gun. Moseley, on 

 Inaccessible and Kerguelen Islands, had similar ex- 

 periences. 



The Albatrosses of the Laysan Islands show far 

 less fear of man than do barnyard fowls — in short, 

 if it were necessary, hundreds of instances might be 

 cited to show that distrust of man is an acquired 

 and not a natural trait of animals. 



Having these facts in mind, therefore, I be- 

 thought me of some island or islands which were 

 neither at the antipodes nor either pole, and where 

 birds were not only abundant, but in such happy 

 ignorance of man that no difficulty would be expe- 

 rienced in securing their photographs. These would 

 not only have a present interest and value, but would 

 also form permanent records of conditions already 

 threatened by the destructive tendencies of the age. 



After carefully considering all the more easily 

 reached islets of the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, my 

 choice fell on certain of the bird rocks of the Gulf 

 of St. Lawrence. The name bird rock is used in 

 both a general and a special sense. In the former it 

 10 



