IN AUDUBON'S LABRADOR 



fishermen from the Newfoundland fleet had 

 frequently visited the island this summer, as 

 there had been no one to prevent. These men 

 also spread fish-nets over the ground, and the 

 poor puffins, coming out of their holes, are en- 

 tangled and fall an easy prey. The birds are 

 also shot to some extent in the summer, but the 

 spring shooting is the most destructive. Men 

 camp on the island for four or five days at a 

 time and shoot the birds as they fly about 

 within easy gunshot. My informant boasted 

 that he had brought down twenty-five birds at 

 one shot, and added that the wounded birds 

 crawl into the holes and escape. Boys lie be- 

 hind rocks and knock the birds down with 

 sticks. The puffins are destroyed ostensibly for 

 food, but the element of cruel sport undoubt- 

 edly enters into the game and many birds are 

 wasted or fed to the dogs. How long can this 

 sort of thing go on before the puffin is as extinct 

 as the great auk? A stop must be put to these 

 practices before it is too late. The whole sub- 

 ject is considered in a later chapter. 



Jacques Cartier visited this island, which he 

 calls the "Island of Birds," and gives an un- 

 mistakable account of the puffins. He de- 



242 



