132 BIRD STUDIES WITH A CAMERA 
—quaint fisher folk whose patois French had a 
gratefully foreign sound. 
Lodgings were secured at the home of a retired 
fisherman, and immediately we sallied forth to pay 
tribute to the Rock from the nearest point on the 
mainland. Its size and precipitousness were both 
surprising and impressive. Seen from the land it 
seemed like the hull of some great ship which had 
gone ashore here in the age of the Titans. Nearly 
three hundred feet high at the bow, with a beam of 
about one hundred, and a length over all of twelve 
hundred feet, it was not likely to be boarded by the 
most nimble seaman. 
Doubtless an expert climber, properly equipped 
with ropes and assistants, might reach the summit ; 
but as the last man to make the attempt, some fifty 
years ago, lost his life, the town authorities have im- 
posed a fine of five pounds on any one who shall be 
found guilty of scaling or trying to scale the Rock, 
and the law, incidentally, protects the birds as well 
as man. 
The top of the Rock is occupied by a colony of 
probably between two and three thousand Herring 
Gulls and Double-crested Cormorants. The guide- 
books array these birds in picturesque cohorts which 
make the Cormorants’ part. of the Rock black, the 
Gulls’ white; and they further state that should a 
black bird chance to trespass on the Gulls’ territory, 
he is immediately surrounded by a consuming white 
cloud, and vice versa. But be it said to the disgrace 
of man and the credit of birds, that the Cormorants 
and Gulls nest side by side apparently on terms of 
the greatest amity. 
