Three centuries later, Audubon, whose energy in exploration no 

 ornithologist has ever surpassed, visited this colony and was duly ini- 

 pressed with its wonders, though the freshening wind prevented him 

 from landing on the rock itself. 



Then evil days fell upon this Ijird metropolis; fishermen commenced 

 to visit it to obtain birds and eggs for food and to obtain birds for liait ; 

 then a lighthouse was erected and, within ten years, the Gannet population 

 of 100,000, which, seen from a distance, had caused Audubon to think 

 that this rock was covered with snow, was swept from the tojj of the 

 rock. To-day, though still one of the ornithological A\'onders of our 

 Atlantic coast, the colonj' is but a shadow of its former self, and unless 

 more effective protection is given than now prevails, in time only a 

 fraction of even the present numbers will be left. 



*.j',(<*<if.i«^ 



IIRD ROCK FKOM THE SOUTHWEST 

 Distance ab<jut one-halt" a mile 



(From "Bird .Studies with a Camera," by pernii?s;,ion of D. ,\ppletori it d 



