BIRD ROCK 167 
clear idea of the feelings which would attend the 
beginning of a fall, and it was with a decided sense 
of having had a narrow escape that, on being hoisted 
slightly above the level of the summit of the Rock, 
we saw the arm of the crane™ pulled inward, bring- 
ing the crate over the land, to which we were gently 
lowered. 
The twenty years which have elapsed since 
Cory visited the Rock have reduced the time re- 
quired for the ascent from twenty-seven to six 
minutes. The world moves, therefore, even at Bird 
Rock. 
To a naturalist this slow passage through the 
air, about six feet from ledge after ledge, crevice 
above crevice, filled with Kittiwakes,” Murres, and 
Razorbills, with great white banks of snowy Gan- 
nets on either side, possesses an almost stupefying 
fascination. The birds were so abundant and 
showed such entire lack of fear, I seemed to have 
reached, if not the heart, at least one of the most 
important centers of the bird world. 
Alighting from the crate, we were greeted by 
Mr. Bourque’s two assistants and his daughter, a 
girl of sixteen, who, with a third assistant, now 
absent on leave, completed the population of the 
island. There should be added, however, one cow— 
an important member of the Rock colony, who had 
reached her elevated position in life by means of the 
same apparatus with which we had just gratefully 
parted company. Numerous buildings, which we 
had barely noticed from the sea, were found to form 
a miniature village on the grassy, nearly level sum- 
mit of the Rock, giving to the scene an atmosphere 
