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OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE WISCONSIN, ILLINOIS AND MICHIGAN AUDUBON SOCIETIES 
One Year 25 Cents 
Single Copy 5 Cents 
Published by the Wisconsin Audubon Society at Madison, Wisconsin 
Entered as second class matter August 23, 1909, at Madison, Wis., under the act of Congress of March 3, 1879 
VOL. XIV 
NOVEMBER, 1912 
NO. 3 
THE LABRADOR EGG-HUNTERS 
By John J. Audubon 
See yon shallop shyly sailing along; 
she sneaks like a thief, wishing, as it 
were, to shun the very light of heaven. 
Under the lee of every rocky isle some 
one at the tiller steers her course. 
“Were his trade an honest one he 
would not think of hiding his back be¬ 
hind the terrific rocks that seem to 
have been placed there as a resort for 
the myriads of birds that annually visit 
this desolate region of the earth for the 
purpose of rearing their young at a dis¬ 
tance from all disturbers of their peace. 
How unlike the open, bold, honest mar¬ 
iner, whose face needs no mask, who 
scorns to skulk under any circumstan¬ 
ces ! 
The vessel herself is a shabby 
thing; her sails are patched with stolen 
pieces of better canvas, the owners of 
which have probably been stranded on 
some inhospitable coast, and have been 
plundered, perhaps murdered, by the 
wretches before ns. Look at her again. 
Her sides are neither painted nor even 
pitched; no, they are daubed over, 
plastered and patched with stripes of 
sealskins laid along the seams. Her 
deck has never been washed or sanded; 
her hold—for no cabin has she—though 
at present empty, sends forth an odor 
pestilential as that of a charnelhouse. 
The crew, eight in number, lie sleeping 
at the foot of their tottering mast, re¬ 
gardless of the repairs needed in every 
part of her rigging. But see! she sends 
along, and, as 1 suspect her crew to be 
bent on the commission of some evil 
deed, let us follow her to the first har¬ 
bor. 
11 There rides the filthy thing. The 
afternoon is half over. Her crew have 
thrown their boat overboard; they en¬ 
ter and seat themselves, one with a 
rusty gun. One of them sculls the skiff 
toward an island, for a century past 
the breeding-place of myriads of guil¬ 
lemots, which are now to be laid under 
contribution. 
“At the approach of the vile thieves 
clouds of birds rise from the rock and 
fill the air around, wheeling and 
screaming over their enemies; vet 
thousands remain in an erect posture, 
each covering its single egg, the hope 
of both parents. The reports of sev¬ 
eral muskets loaded with heavy shot 
are now heard, while several dead and 
wounded birds fall heavily on the rock 
oi* into the water. Instantly all the sit¬ 
ting birds rise and fly off affrighted to 
their companions above, and hover in 
dismay over the assassins, who walk 
forward exultantly, and with their 
shouts mingling oaths and execrations. 
Look at them! See how they crush 
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