1S4 J!>i;i) STUDIES WITJL A CAiMKUA 



birds wliicli Dr. Bryant writes of as living on the 

 top of tlie Rock alone ; and of Petrels, not more than 

 fifty. 



When on the Rock I should have said that it 

 was tenanted hy at least ton thousand birds, and I 

 was not a little surprised to find tliat the evidence 

 furnished by my photograpliic records gave a total 

 of about four thousand l)irds. However, the sight 

 of four thousand liirds domiciled in one small islet 

 is sufhciently impressive to increase the pulse beat 

 of the most phlegmatic traveler ; and even if this 

 estimate be too large, the Rock's merits as a bird 

 resort are toc) substantial to be affected by any 

 decrease in it which truth demands. 



To return to an account of the day's doings, the 

 light, as has been said, was iin favorable for jjliotog- 

 raphy, and the time was devoted to collecting and 

 pre])aring specimens and making a liurried survey 

 of the bird rookeries on the Rock, with results 

 briefly set forth aljove; but late in the afternoon 

 the sun gave indications of its whereabouts liehind 

 the clouds, and I immediately substituted the cam- 

 era for the scalpel, and had Keeper Bourque lower 

 me in the crate in order that I might secure photo- 

 graphs of the birds observed on our ascent. 



Neither tin; stability of the crate nor its constant 

 tui-ning were conditions which a i)hotogi'apher 

 would choose, and, witliout the twin-lens it would 

 have Iteen impossible to secure pictures of the Kitti- 

 wakes"^ and Murros, who in a surprised but un- 

 alarmed manner regarded mo from their nests on 

 the Rock, in some instances at a distance of not 

 more than six feet. 



