BIRD ROCK 161 
nearly every sitting bird taking its egg into the air 
between its thighs and dropping it after flying a 
few yards. This was repeatedly 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 (1881) Cory, Lucas, Palmer, Bish- 
op, and doubtless others, have visited Bird Rock, 
but with the entire disappearance of the Gannets 
from its summit no attempt has been made to esti- 
mate the further decrease in the number of its 
feathered inhabitants. 
In spite of the great diminution which 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 23d, 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 
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