132 



BIRD STUDIES WITH A CAM^IRA 



—quaint fisher folk whose pafois French liad a 

 gratefully foreign sound. 



Lodgings were secured at the liome of a retired 

 fisherman, and immediately we sallied forth to pay 

 tribute to the Rock from the nearest point on the 

 mainland. Its size and preeipitousness were both 

 surprising and impressive. Seen from the land it 

 seemed like the hull of some great ship which had 

 gone ashore here in the age of the Titans. Nearly 

 three hundred feet high at the bow, with a beam of 

 about one hundred, and a length over all of twelve 

 hundred feet, it was not likely to be boarded by the 

 most nimble seaman. 



Doubtless an ex])ert climljor, properly equipped 

 with ropes and assistants, might reach the summit ; 

 but as the last man to make the attenii)t, some fifty 

 years ago, lost his life, the town authorities have im- 

 posed a fine of five pounds on any one win) shall be 

 founil guilty of scaling or trying to scale the Rock, 

 and the law, incidentally, protects the birds as well 

 as man. 



The top of the Rock is occupied by a colony of 

 ])robably between two and three thousand Hei-ring 

 Gulls ami Double-crested CVirmorants. The guide- 

 books array these birds in picturesr|ue cohorts which 

 make the Cormorants' part of the Rock black, the 

 (lulls' white; and they further state that should a 

 Ijlack bird chance tc) trespass on tlie Gulls' territory, 

 he is immediately surroxiuded by a consuudug white 

 cloud, and vicr versa. But be it said to the disgrace 

 of man and the credit of liirds, that the Cormorants 

 and Gulls nest side liy side apparently on terms of 

 the greatest amity. 



