Page:Bird-lore Vol 01.djvu/85

 == A BI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE

DEVOTED TO THE STUDY AND PROTECTION OF BIRDS

BY FRANK M. CHAPMAN

(See Frontispiece)

ANNETS (Sula bassana) are known to nest in only three places in North America — Perroquet Island, the Bird Rocks, and Bonaventure Island, all in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. By far the largest colony is found on the last named island, where, on the ledges of the red sandstone cliffs, some three hundred feet in height, they are practically secure from molestation. Bonaventure Island itself, however, is the most accessible of the three localities mentioned, and may be easily reached in a small fishing boat from the neighboring village of Percé, where the famous Percé Rock, with its colony of Herring Gulls and Double-crested Cormorants, makes the region particularly interesting to the ornithologist.

The Gannet cliffs are on the east side of Bonaventure, and are exposed to the full force of the sea. To visit them satisfactorily, therefore, one should select a calm day, when one may closely approach the cliffs, and view with both safety and comfort the long, white rows, containing thousands of birds nesting on the shelves and ledges on the face of the cliff; a remarkable spectacle!

The unusually turbulent sea which prevailed during my visit to these cliffs, on July 11, 1898, prevented me from securing satisfactory pictures from a boat, but, landing on the west side of Bonaventure, I crossed the island (here about one and a half miles in width), and reached a position on the crest of the cliffs, from which the accompanying picture was made. About four hundred Gannets are shown nesting on this single ledge—one of many quite as densely populated. Preparations were made to secure a picture of these birds on the wing, but my best efforts to startle them into flight did not succeed in making a single bird leave its nest!