Supplement to Animal Sanctuaries in Labrador | Page 7

the shore birds are concerned, it is not the occasional hunter
that does the real damage. The islands are becoming widely known to
students of birds, and it is the bird student, the member of the Audubon
Society, (in most instances, I regret to say, men of my own country)
who are guilty of ruthless slaughter of the shore birds for their skins,
and particularly for their eggs; all this in the protected season.
The situation is even worse on the Bird rocks. That is a protected area
and yet is subject to fearful attacks from the egg hunters. I do not mean
the commercial "eggers," but the member of the Audubon Society who
has a collection of birds' eggs and skins and wants duplicates in order
to enter into exchange with his colleagues. I met there on one of my
visits an American "student" who had taken 369 clutches of eggs of

each of the seven or more species of waterfowl there breeding, thus
destroying at one swoop upwards of two thousand potential birds. It is
no wonder that, with such a 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 cormorants have kept house for
untold generations. These birds are a constant temptation to the men
with a gun, but the Percé people are so attached to the birds that no one
would ever think of killing one, except the occasional French fisherman
who will eat a young gull when hard pressed. Any attempt made by
outsiders to use the birds as targets is resented so strongly that even the
cormorants are let live.
Your address seems to me timely and extremely pertinent. I hope your
proposition may receive more than passing attention and the
suggestions therein be made effective, for they certainly aim to
maintain the natural attractions and the natural resources of the country.
Mr. Napoleon A. Comeau, author of _Life and Sport on the North

Shore_, and one who has had fifty years' practical experience within the
Labrador area, writes from Godbout River, Que.:
I trust your good work will be crowned with success. A lot of good has
already been accomplished by the spreading of literature on this subject
by the Audubon Society, the A.O.U. and others, but much remains to
be accomplished. It has always been my aim in this section to prevent
wanton destruction of all kinds and I am glad to say I have had
considerable success in educating our younger generation here. Small
birds of all kinds used to be wantonly killed by boys, a thing I rarely
see now--it was the same in the other ways by men--but I must say that
real trappers or Indians are not the worst by any means. These men will
kill at all times and seasons but only through necessity; strangers and
so-called sportsmen are generally the offenders. I have been a trapper
myself for years, a professional, but had been taught never to kill
wantonly.... Of course, much study and care must be exercised in
preserving species of birds and animals from destruction, or else, as
you say, mistakes may be made. There are species of such that are
destructive to others when allowed to increase