-4- 
     
    
   
   
    
     The gannets share Bird Rock with large numbers of common and thick- 
     
     billed murres and black-legged kittiwakes, and on numerous small stacks 
     
     and islets around the Magdalens, gulls and cormorants nest in large 
     
     numbers. The Magdalens are also important to shorebirds, which pause 
     
     in their migration to gorge on mud—dwelling invertebrates at the edges 
     
     of the lagoons. 
     
    
   
   
    
     In recent years the Magdalens have become much more accessible to 
     
     outside visitors, and as tourist traffic increases fragile habitat is 
     
     put into jeopardy. The extensive dune system, which shelters a 
     
     significant population of piping plovers, is the most vulnerable. The 
     
     projected development of salt mining on the islands may have an even 
     
     greater impact, Since the construction of port facilities seems likely 
     
     to destroy an important lobster spawning area. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Hopefully the sad tale of the walrus and the gannet will be remembered 
     
     as the future course of the Magdalens is charted, and that the islands 
     
     will always hold a place for nature as well as man. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Anticosti . 
     
    

    
     Anticosti is an island of contradictions. It is the largest island 1 
     
     in the Gulf of St. Lawrence (half as big again as P.E.I.) but its total 
     
     population is only 300 souls. Its mammalian fauna is now the most 
     
     abundant in the Gulf, but its mammals were once limited to a single 
     
     herbivore and four rare carnivores. Anticosti supports vast woodlands, 
     
     but forest regeneration is so slow that fields abandoned at the turn of 
     
     the century have yet to show a single seedling. 
     
    
   
   
    
     The unique character of Anticosti Island is primarily due to 
     
     geography. The low conifer-blanketed hills of the island are underlain 
     
     by ancient limestone bedrock, which is disected in many places by deep 
     
     river canyons. The same strong currents from the St. Lawrence River 
     
     which once nourished the shellfish whose remains now Compose Anticosti, 
     
     now pose formidable obstacles to colonization of the island by land 
     
     mammals. Thus deer mice, otter, bear, fox and marten were Anticosti's 
     
     only native mammals, and the latter two must have been extremely rare 
     
     because their sole prey was the deer mouse.. 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     Human settlers, too, were slow to colonize the island because of 
     
     the lack of fishing harbours. When the French chocolate manufacturer 
     
     Henri Menier acquired the island around the turn of the century it was 
     
     nearly uninhabited. Menier set about to turn his island into a hunter's 
     
     paradise by introducing game species, and as usually happens after such 
     
     broadside introductions, the basic biological character of the island ‘ 
     
     was permanently altered. 
     
    
   
   
    
     The introductions included hare, beaver, muskrat, fisher, mink, ‘ 
     
     wapiti, white-tailed deer, moose, reindeer and bison. Of these, the 
     
     hare and the deer were immediate successes, and within a few years had 
     
     expanded to populate the entire island. At the present time white- ‘ 
     
     tailed deer are so abundant on Anticosti that they outnumber the total ‘ 
     
     deer population of the remainder of Quebec. The high deer populations 
     
     are extraordinary for an area as far north as Anticosti, and the 
     
     success of the species seems to be related to the island's maritime 
     
     climate with its winter thaws and ice-storms which enables the animals 1 
     
     to circulate and feed during the critical winter period. The effects 
     
     of the deer on AnticoSti's vegetation have been drastic. Deciduous 
     
     shrubs have been virtually eliminated from the island, and the forests 
     
     now seem to be shifting towards even greater dominance by spruce, because 
     
     of intense browsing pressure on balsam fir and poplar.. These vegetational 
     
     changes have significant effects on other animal species. For example, 
     
     biologists speculate the present rarity of the black bear is due to the 
     
     elimination by deer of fruit and berry-bearing plants upon which bears 
     
     depend to build their winter fat reserves. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Anticosti is also the home of many kinds of birds although the 
     
     decrease in vegetational diversity has probably reduced the variety of 
     
     species. Bald eagles are a common sight around the island's shores, as 
     
     are shorebirds during their migration. Near the eastern tip of Anticosti 
     
     is located the largest colony of black—legged kittiwakes in North America- 
     
    

    
     The breeding cliff is also inhabited by a small number of 
     
     gannets. '