-5- 
     
    
   
   
    
     . At the present time Anticosti is administered as a hunting and 
     
     fishing preserve by the government of Quebec, but campers are welcome 
     
     as well. With its abundance of wildlife and its unique ecological 
     
     history, Anticosti is a true naturalist's paradise. I think Menier 
     
     would be satisfied. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Bonaventure 
     
    
   
   
    
     In its history - both human and natural - Bonaventure Island is 
     
     one of the richest spots in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Situated three 
     
     kilometers Offshore from Perce Rock on Quebec's Gaspe Peninsula, 
     
     Bonaventure was one of the earliest centers of fishing activity in 
     
     Canada, and was the scene of many confrontations between French and 
     
     English. Today the rich waters around the island attract thousands of 
     
     birds, and the island is the home of the largest seabird colony in the 
     
     Gulf of Saint Lawrence. 
     
    
   
   
    
     The most important seabird species is the gannet. The colony has 
     
     expanded from the wide cliff ledges to spread inland from the lip of 
     
     the cliff. Common murres and razorbills are also numerous on the cliff 
     
     face as are black—legged kittiwaskes, whose populations are rapidly 
     
     expanding in eastern Canada. Kittiwakes may quite possibly nest on the 
     
     Island within a few years. 
     
    
   
   
    
     The ledges these birds use for nesting are composed of a red 
     
     conglomerate rock which resembles the sandstone of Prince Edward Island. 
     
     The rock is rich in cobbles due to its proximity to the St. Lawrence 
     
     River. By the time the current of the ancient river reached what is 
     
     now P.E.I. and the Magdalens, the cobble load had all been dropped, and 
     
     the sandstone bedrock of these two areas is consequently pure. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Bonaventure is close enough to the mainland that a solid ice bridge 
     
     forms most Winters, and the island is home to hares, foxes, and several 
     
     kinds of small mammals. But the fact that there are not more species 
     
     inhabiting Bonaventure Island illustrates a rule of island biogeography; 
     
     namely, that the chances of extinction increase with the smallness of 
     
     the island. It is highly unlikely that such mammals as squirrels, 
     
     porcupines, deer and moose, which are present on the nearby mainland, 
     
     never colonized Bonaventure. But since the small island (only 3 km 
     
     across), could only support a limited number of a species, some natural 
     
     disaster like a very severe winter or the failure of the cone crop 
     
     could easily wipe out the whole population. The species would then be 
     
     absent from the island until a chance migration reestablished it again. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Bonaventure Island is now a provincial park, and visitors.may 
     
     examine its wonders in the company of a provincial or federal naturalist. 
     
    
   
   
    
     The North Shore Islands 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     The North Shore of the Gulf of St. Lawrence is a remote and barren 
     
     place, sparsely inhabited and visited by few outsiders. Althouth the 
     
     700 kilometers of coastline from Sept Isles to the Strait of Bane Isle 
     
     lie roughly at the same latitude, there is a very marked gradient of 
     
     ecotype from boreal spruce—fir forest in the west to sub-arctic tundra 
     
     in the east. This gradient is due to the chilling influence of Arctic 
     
     water and ice which split off from the Labrador current to enter the 
     
     Gulf through the Strait of Belle Isle. d 
     
    
   
   
    
     The North Shore of the Gulf is fronted by an astonishing number of 
     
     islands; in fact there are far more islands on the coast than people. 
     
     These islands were formed by flooding of coastal areas due to depression 
     
     of the land by the weight of the glaciers, or by the rise of sea level, 
     
     or both. In any case the hard granite hills which now emerge as coastal 
     
     islands still show evidence of the glacier's retreat; with their whaleback 
     
     shape and their frequently naked bedrock with glacial striations (scratches). 
     
     In the eastern part of the region where the islands are thickest, the 
     
     vegetative cover (where it exists) is a carpet of crowberry and other 
     
     heath plants. Stunted conifers only survive in sheltered hollows and 
     
     gulches.