310 STUDIES IN BIRD-MIGRATION 



gendarme had been sent to watch us by special instruc- 

 tions from Paris. 



The Consul urged us to quit the island as soon as 

 possible in order to avoid serious consequences. We 

 left the island on 17th September, our bite bleu accom- 

 panying us, and returned to Brest. Thus was our 

 Ushant expedition miserably wrecked. 



It may be well to state here that our Foreign Office 

 had informed the French Government of our intended 

 visit to Ushant, and its object, some time before our 

 arrival on the island. Thus the treatment meted out to 

 us is inexplicable, except that our relations with France 

 had just passed under a deep shadow, for the war cloud 

 of Fashoda had appeared simultaneously with our advent 

 on the island. 



The following extract from the newspaper La Patrie 

 throws some light upon the occurrence. Writing soon 

 after our visit, this paper stated, on the authority of its 

 Brest correspondent, that " the English are in the habit 

 of visiting Ushant with a view to secure pilots well 

 acquainted with these dangerous seas, and to bribe the 

 islanders with British gold. Only last year, under the 

 pretence of rewarding the islanders for their conduct in 

 connection with the wreck of the Drummond Castle^ 

 they scattered a perfect golden shower over the islands. 

 In short, our neighbours, in the time of peace, pave the 

 way for the purchase of traitors in the time of war." 

 This, we were credibly informed at Brest, was the true 

 explanation. We were regarded as spies. Our bird- 

 watching was a mere subterfuge. A party of engineer 

 officers were engaged in surveying in connection with 

 the fortifications it was intended to erect on the island, 

 but the sites of these were not manifest in any way. 



