BIRD ROCK 189 
that takes them wholly out of sight, and splashes the 
water ten feet or more into the air. Cory graphi- 
cally compares the sight of a distant flock of Gannets 
diving at a school of fish, to a continuous stream of 
beans poured from a pail. 
Captain Bourque tells me that Gannets are no 
longer used for bait by the codfishers; but when one 
realizes that only two colonies of these grand birds, 
comprising a few thousand individuals, are all that 
are left of the species in this hemisphere, one could 
wish for these survivors something more than nega- 
tive protection. 
In the afternoon the weather gave promise of 
clearing, and entering the crate we were swung out 
over the edge of the Rock on the first stage of our 
homeward journey. The collections and outfit were 
placed aboard the schooner, while in a dory we 
attempted to visit Little Bird; but before we had 
rowed a quarter of a mile the fog crept back, Great 
Bird slowly disappeared from view and became only 
a periodic boom in the gray wall, and we returned 
to the schooner without delay. 
The sail to Bryon, where we passed the night, ap- 
parently demonstrated Captain Taker’s possession of 
the sense of direction. In spite of a head wind, 
violent squalls, and a strong tide, he made his way 
through the fog with perfect assurance and dropped 
anchor at a particular lobster buoy, visible less than 
fifty yards from the schooner, but which in effect he 
appeared to have seen before we left the Rock. It 
was a remarkable bit of seamanship. 
In Bird Rock the Canadian Government possesses 
an object of surpassing interest, one which, south of 
