EGGERS OF LABRADOR. 151 
charged, and careless of the lives of their fellow: 
creatures, as they are of those of the helpless in- 
habitants of the air, they fight like wild beasts 
for a contested prey. Not till fractured skulls 
and wounded limbs give evidence of the fray, is 
it brought to a satisfactory conclusion, when 
fiaternising, they divide the booty. 
Not only against their rivals do the ruffians 
wage war, but against mariners, who in the 
dauntlessness of innocence boldly traverse the 
waters. -Often they are surprised and robbed 
by these lawless crews, who infest the coast 
whenever a covert may be found. Yet not un- 
frequently they meet with a merited punishment. 
In a company of a hundred, perhaps, the fisher- 
men gallantly advance their boats. Disdaining 
to carry other weapons, they use the sufficient 
ones of their fists and oars. They prepare boldly 
to ascend the rock, where they are awaited by 
the enemy—a dozen Eggers armed with guns 
and bludgeons. Loud cheers re-echo through 
the air, a fierce contest ensues, but the van- 
quished Eggers are generally left bruised upon 
the ground. 
So unremitting are these pirates in their de- 
predations, as to threaten the entire extinction 
of various species of birds, once abundant in 
resorts which they abandon in search of un. 
tavlested retreats. Gulls, guillerots, and puffins 
r) 
