EST AUDUBON'S LABRADOR 



absolutely covered with them, while on the 

 rocks were thousands, like sentinels on the 

 watch." Father Hesry said that puffins were 

 formerly so numerous that when they rose in 

 •the air they hid the island from sight. This is 

 doubtless a picturesque exaggeration on the 

 part of the good father, but it gives a vivid idea 

 of the great numbers of birds. At the time of 

 our visit, in the year 1915, there were small 

 places where the air and the water were filled 

 with the birds; small groups could be seen on 

 the rocks, but there were probably not one hun- 

 dredth part of the hosts that Audubon found. 

 Razor-billed auks were common, and I am in- 

 clined to think that they were holding their own 

 much better than the puffins, as they lay their 

 eggs in more inaccessible places under the rocks. 

 As the puffins diminish, the auks seem to in- 

 crease by comparison. 



The island itself lies about halfway between 

 Bradore Harbor and Long Point, at the en- 

 trance of the Bay of Blanc Sablon. The island 

 is not far from the shore at Anse au Dunes. It 

 is about a quarter of a mile across, nearly circu- 

 lar, with a flat, elevated center of red sandstone 

 disposed in horizontal layers. On the western 



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