BIRD ROCK 161 



nearly every sitting bird taking its egg into the air 

 between its tliiglis and dropi^ing it after flying a 

 few yards. Tliis was repeatedljr (observed during our 

 visit, and more than once a perfect shower of eggs 

 fell into the water about our boat." While the 

 birds have become comparatively accustomed to the 

 report of the guncotton bomb, which has succeeded 

 the cannon, large numbers still leave the Rock each 

 time a bomb is exploded, so that it continues to be a 

 means of destroying not only eggs but young birds, 

 which are carried off the narrow ledges by the pre- 

 cipitous flight of their parents. 



Since that date (18S1) Cory, Lucas, Palmer, Bish- 

 op, and doubtless others, have visited Bird Rock, 

 but with the entire disappearance of the Gannets 

 from its summit no attemjjt has been made to esti- 

 mate the further decrease in the number of its 

 feathered inhabitants. 



In spite of the great diminution wliicli this out- 

 line of its history shows to have occurred in Bird 

 Rock"s population, the casual observer of to-day 

 will believe with difficulty that it could ever have 

 been more densely inhabited. It is still one of the 

 ornithological wonders of our Atlantic coast, and, 

 comparatively speaking, as well worth visiting as in 

 the time of Audubon. 



Writing now in the light of experience, I antici- 

 pate a return to Bird Rock with even more enthusiasm 

 than I felt when after the discouraging uncertainties 

 of delay we boarded the Sea Gem on the afternoon 

 of July 2.3d, and with a fair wind set sail for Bryon, 

 where we were to anchor for the night. 



What a stanch, powerful vessel the little schooner 

 12 



