THE J5IRD ROCKS OF THE GULF OF 

 ST. LAWRENCE 



PERCE AND BONAYENTURE 



vj HE naturalist realizes with tlie ut- 

 most sadness that the enci-oach- 

 meuts of civilization are rajiidly 

 changing the conditions of aninuxl 

 life on this small sphere of ours, 

 and that soon he may find Nature 

 ^^^(rfec.^ ])rimeval only in its more remote 

 or inaccessible parts. 

 Forest life vanishes with the demand for timlier, 

 which sends the axeman in advance of the agricul- 

 turist. The tillable plains, prairies, and botti.mi 

 lands are transformed by the plow. The sandy 

 beaches suffer with an eruption of summer hotels 

 and cotta,ges, and within the confines of civilization 

 only such useless portions of the earth's surface as 

 the arid deserts and barren mountain to^is, marshy 

 wastes and rocky or far-distant islets, have been un- 

 altered by man. 



It is especially to the preserving influences of 

 island life that we owe the continued survival of 

 many animals wliicli have greatly decreased or be- 

 come ('xterminat(!(l on the mainland, as Ihas been 

 reina.rl-c(!(l of the Terns and Heath Hen — two illus- 

 138 



