hideous desecration of the rights of the birds, the
population of the Rocks is rapidly decreasing.

I believe the light-keeper is supposed to be a conservator
of the birds and to prevent such uncontrolled destruction;
but what can he do, a man who is practically exiled from the
rest of his race for the entire year, frozen in for six
months of the year? He is naturally so overjoyed at the
sight of a fellow creature from the big world outside as to
indulge him, whatever his collecting proclivities may be.
The eggs that are taken by the occasional sailor seem to me
to cut no figure at all in the actual diminution of the bird
life there. That is a slender thing compared with the
destruction caused by the bird students. It is a severe
indictment of the ornithologist that such statements as the
foregoing happen to be true.

Almost as remarkable for its number of waterfowl of the same
species is the roost on the east cliffs of Bonaventure
island. These have fortunately been rendered by Nature, thus
far, inaccessible and the bird men have not yet found a way
of getting among them. Yet, even so, there is constantly a
great deal of reckless shooting at the birds simply for the
sake of "stirring them up." This place is not protected by
law, I believe, as a special reservation, but that might
easily be brought about if the matter were placed in the
hands of some responsible citizen residing on that island.

There is a happy situation in connection with the great
Percé rock at Percé, on the top of which the gulls and