BRADORE BAY AND PERROQUET ISLAND 



"Thereat they greatly were dismay'd, ne wist 

 How to direct theyr way in darkness wide ; 

 But feared to wander in that wastefull mist: 

 For troubling into mischief unespyde : 

 Worse is the danger hiden then descride"; — 



for he appeared to know his way and to steer 

 the boat at full speed with an assurance almost 

 incredible until I realized that he was making 

 use of his knowledge of the waves and currents 

 and of the sound of surf on ledges, all of which 

 were familiar guides to him in his life-work. In 

 fact, he scorned my compass as entirely unnec- 

 essary, — he did not carry one himself, — and 

 suddenly the lee side of Perroquet Island, at 

 the exact place where we wished to land, loomed 

 up out of the fog. Here puffins, or perroquets 

 as they are called, have bred from time imme- 

 morial and here they still retain a hold not- 

 withstanding the persecution they have en- 

 dured. This, I am inclined to think, is greater 

 at the present day than ever before, and will 

 soon destroy them root and branch if nothing 

 is done to prevent. The birds were noticeably 

 less in number than they were when I passed 

 the island in 1906. Audubon says: "As we 

 approached the breeding-place, the air was 

 filled with these birds, and the water around 



