^, IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I.I 11.25 1^128 |25 ■SO ^^^ H^MI 14 U4 "> .ns of what he had so 1 not well be otherwise, if plagiarism, any more 8 of a refiion ot which g is farther from my ,bcrs. ■•^^fefiv Fishing establishment of Wm H. Whiteley, Esq Bonne Esperance, Labrador. Ui BIRD-LIFE IN LABRADOR. THE ROBIN TarduH mkjraforius. — LiXN. Perhaps never in all my life have I started upon any task that was placed before nic with so much of expectant pleasure as that with which I now begin to write out my notes upon the birds of a region I dreamed about in my childhood, and rev- eled in in my manhood. Among my first inspirations to seek out Nature in her own abodes, in my youth, were a parcel of rob- in's eggs, and an heirloom in the shape of an eider duck's, a puffin's, and an auk's skin, which had been presents from a friend to a brother, and which the enemies' bullets of a cruel war had handed to me. The skins were labeled from " Belle Isle." How I prized them ! The robin's eggs were from home. Thus at the age of eight, a mere stripling, I formed the pur- pose, in my own mind, to study and explore "bird life" from the one place to the other. Although the whole of the inter- mediate space has not been gone over, and may never be fully searched personally, yet I have examined carefully these goals 1 o Of" J la Bi Iff- Life ill LcJiiador. of my youthful ambition, and, liaviii},' shown the pnbh'c one of them, in " New England Bird Life," will now try to give u very imjx'rfect and inadequate coiieeption of the other in this* little sketeh of I^abrador bird life. In my boyhood, the robin was always, or nearly always, the tirst bird to greet me in the Spring and the last^ saving a few ehiektidees, woodpeckers, nuthatches anl the like, our regular Winter Uirds, to leave in the Fall. I have found him in nearly every corner wherein I have hunted ; and often, when least ex-jjecting it, has his fa- n:iliar form and note come to me like a message from home. The first bird then, of which 1 have to speak, is the robin ; nearly of equal abundance thr<»ngh(;ut the extent of North America, from I^abrador to Alaska. The first time that I saw the robin in Ijubrudor I was climb- ing the high hills in the rear of our log cabin, one d.iy in the Fall of 1881. There was almost nothing astir that d^y. I had searched the lowlands without success; and the derisive titter of the chickadee, as he would sudilenly apjjear a few feet from me and <'>s suddenly disappear, after his merry laugh, in the spructs that spread their dense, matted masses everywhere around, and the mocking, fiendish croak of the ravens, perch- ed here or there upon some inaccessible crag, had driven me to distraction. On, on I climbed. I left the spruces and en- tered the birches. As I did so, a short, (juick cry of alarm, a glimpse of several pli.inp bodies rushing through the tan- gled leaves, and, before I could head them off, a flock of rob- ins gathered themselves just beyond the tree tops, and the next moment I saw their retreating forms way up the peak above me, clearing its northern side and disappearing behind the crest. Thus I tirst saw the robin in Labrador. I followed them that day for hours. They always eluded me, and were as wild as hawks. Over hill and vale the relentless pursuer followed until the shades of evening baffled all efforts, and warned me of the uselessness of any further attempts for that day. I have followed robins many times since that attempt, have found them on hills and home pastures, wild and tame, the pnbliV one <»f w try to give a lie other in this 'hood, the robin greet me in the S woodjM.'ckerfs, Wm\s, to leave corner wherein g it, has jiis fa- ige from homo. :, is the robin ; tent of North or I was climb- one (l.iy in the "t tl^y. I had derisive titter I few feet from ' laugii, in the H everywhere ravens, perch- id driven me riices and en- '•y of alarm, "gh the tan- flock of rob- and the next peak above behind the I followed le, and were less purs'ier efforts, and ipt« for that hut attenij)t, tl and tame, Bird- Life hi Lnd of these little [eating, they as of- ure. In wander- but to kill time, , If in the heat sought me out a |t long to wait be- in si ill for a mo- one, bolder than n five feet of my ;tle fellow to and ingly, he balances cautiously, then -dee's that wake the echoes in the old wooil, and seems a signal of safety and u call f r ijatlieriiig for every chickadee within twenty yards arouuil. Then tluy begin to gather. Every bush swarms witli them. I remain still, and the cautious little Icllosvs hop nearer and nearer. If I nnive thev are off; if I remain perfectly still they l.verflows and all, breaks up in an instant. A whish of many wings, a vindictive ee- ee-ee, growing fainter and fainter, then ceasing altogether, and I am postively alone. Did I wait ten minutes they would all comeback : but my attention is called in anotlierdirectiiui, as will prisiutiy aj)pear. The IIiids'>nian titmouse breeds in the interior, all up and down the coa»t, where it prefers the tangled undergrowth so difficult of access. Its note is wheezed and not a clear pronounced dee, repeated several times. SHORE LARK HORXED LARK En'inophUa alpeHtrh. — (L.) lioiE. The bird that has detracted our attention from the group of diminutive curiosity seekers, flies by with a wild flight far U]) in the sky above, uttering a wild, (juerulous whistle as he passes, and is immediately lost in the distance. It is the shore or horned lark ; the people here call it the skylark. We will turn to the note-book again ; here is the record: Monday, Oc- tober 1 .. This morning I shot several specimens of the horn- ed lark and noted the extent of the pinkish color on the wing coverts, rump, and neck, usual in the Spring specimens of high Eastern regions. My long stay upon the coast made me quite 16 Bh'd-Lifc in Lnhnidor. fam'liar with this b ■autiful songster aiul ('hiinu'tL'n.stif bird of the region, which is iibunclant all along the north shores of the St. Lawrenee from (^nebee to Bell Isle. At Green Island, in the Kiver St. Lawrence, I ft)und the lark qnite coinnioii. At that time it was rather tame, and could be seen on the low- flats of the island hopping about and feeding in close company with the sandpipers. They were all single birds and not flocks. I saw them all the Fall at Old Fort Island, i)oti« alone and in hirge flocks, always more or less wild. I would often see tlu in flying very high in the air, and uttering their j)eculiar (juer- ulous whistling notes; sometimes flying quite low and some- wiiat irregularly, but uttering tlieir notes at all times while on the wing. Though common everywhere, they seemed to lead a sort of wild, solitary life that comported well with the wild, solitary region in which they dwelt ; they preferred the plains, fields, and rocky knolls away from houses where they would hop about in twos or threes, or small flocks, picking up their food ; occasionally they would perch on the tops of knolls as if to reconnoiter, then retire and go to feeding again as if satisfied that no enemy was near ; they are very quick and active in their movements, and always wild rather than tan>e save in the late Summer, when the parents and young together will feed about the door-yards as familiarly as if never wild. This period usually lasts a month or six weeks and then all are off together, as wild as ever. They breed abundantly everywhere, often n few yards from the houses as well as in the large meadow lands miles from any habitation. Everywhere you go in I^abrador you will meet with the lark. I saw them often on the shore, and feeding on the kelp in company with the white-rumped sandpiper, but never mingling with them as far as I could see. As their brown color corresponds so well with the color of the ground, it was often hard to detect them until a few shrill whistles and a hurried flight announced their flushing a short distance ahead. Several that I shot were really quite re- markable for the amount of pink upon them. At times large flocks fly over the island high up in the air, while one of these Bird- Life in Labrador. 17 inujteri.stic bird of lorth shores of tlie ,\t Green Island, irk quite conuuoii. )e seen on the low ^ in close com pjuiy irds and not floeks. , both alone and in )nl(l often see tlieiu leir ])eenliar their hey were as dainty searching revealed ;en have been close CROAT AH. , at Xatashquan, I e vera I times, dis- I have no doubt ill along the north 8 not Labrador, it lys off occasiona'lv ( appeared similar OVEN BIRD I and its neighbor erior. Breeds. I lote upon either of ) not appear there let them remain, lES. Bird- Life in Lnhrahnr. 19' x^MERICAX PIPIT TITLARK AntliHs lu(h)viri(tinin. — liicirr. It was my good fortune, while on the Ijabrador coast, to become j)erhaps more intinuitcly acquainted with this than with any other land binl with which I came in contact. Though my notes on tliis species have previously ai)peared in the Aineri- i'dti Field, under date of January 7, 1HS2, I repeat them here, although they are now the same as borrowed matter. The titlark is an abundant Summer resident, and breeds all along the coast of Labrador from Mingan to lied Bay, a distance of over five hundred miles, and is everywhere a familiar, well- known, and pleasing songster. I first became acquainted with it as an abundant, or at least more than common, resident at both Old Fort and Bonne Hsperanoe Islands. These two places are not more than eight miles apart, and 1 then thought it probable thai all of the islands about that part of the coast were equally abundant breeding places, as 1 have found since that they are. On May 7th 1 started on a trip up the coast, and arrived at Mingan on the 29th ; the next day I saw the titlark for the' first time, and ar..erward I found it on nearly all of the islands and places visited. Being absent during the egging season, I missed the eggs and nests, though I am in- formed that it breeds abundantly, and the boys and people along the coast everywhere recognized the bird and said the same. The name by which the pipit is known in Labrador is that of wagtail, the spotted sandpiper being the only v»ther bird that I have seen that dips its tail and is to l)e found here ; this latter has the name of tbe " crooked-winged bird." I could find no other bird that had a similar name of wagtail. The first specimen I shot was a young bird, and, after I became familiar with the species, I would often spend hours in watch- ing the bird as it stood in some obscure corner of the yard pluming itself and resting, or slowly walking from ])lace to place before finally taking wing. The young bird seems much larger than the adult, if not by actual measurement really so. 20 Bird-Life in Lnbnulor. n I have often mistaken it for the young of tlie horned lurk, whieh at a little dintance it resembles ; hut n elose investiga- tion would invariably detect the difference. Among others the shore lark hops while the pipit walks. It was impossible to mistake the full-grown bird, whose sleek, cunning appear- ance, as you come near it, strikes you at once. It is here call- ed the wagtail, and possesses that jMJCuliarity of so few of our birds of dipping and waving the tail, whence the name. On alighting, the bird immediately begins this movement, as if to secure a proper balance or equilibrium. The movement is gen- erally a dipping ofthe whole hind part of the body,either straight up and down or diagonally, so it often thus gives the appearance of a waving of the tail from side to side ; this latter motion I have never seen the bird execute. After firmly balancing himself the waving motion ceases, and the bird sits for a time with the tail pointing downward in a straight line with the rest of 'ae body. I have carefully watched these movements, time and again, and am thoroughly convinced that this wagging motion is simply a means of acquiring a normal position of the body, and due, perhaps, to some peculiarity in the structure of the body itself. (I have never seen the bird hold the tail downward at a slight angle with the body, as do most flycatch- ers and kindred species.) The head is inclined upward and the neck drawn in. After a short rest the bird will become sprightly again and prepare to fly olT. I have sometimes seen the bird dip its tail without moving the rest ofthe body, though rarely. It is at all times very tame, both young and old birds allowing me to often approach within a few feet of them, during the Summer season. Its walking motion is a rather short step, and while, busy picking up food it looks about sharply, here and there, prepared to fly away at a second's notice, but rarely do- ing so. Its food is insects of the coleopterous order, judging from the legs, sheaths, and antennae, of quite a number whose gizzards I examined. The old bird is very cunning, shy, and mouse-like. On approaching it it runs or walks to some shel- tered tuft of grass or any concealment, and, crouching, draws BJrd-IJff Ui Labrador, 21 of the horned hiik, lit n close inveHti);!!- ce. Among others It was inipoasihie ek, cunning appeur- tice. It is here call- rity of so few of our nee the name. On I movement, as if tus order, judging e a number whose cunning, shy, and alks to some shel- orouching, draws in ami tltiwn its head, lowers its tail, tl i elevates somewliat the center of the buck, and either remains perfectly still or creeps away as it seems to de<;ide from the ap|mrent danger of the situation. I have seen it remain still in this position tli« better |)art of half an hour, and luitil I was thoroughly tired waiting. If I moved the bird would then fly off with a wild, irregular, low but slowly-rising flight, tipping from side to side as do many of the sandpipers. When the flight is for a fehort distance only it seems to be rather undulating. I have often seen an old bird rise in a series of irregular spirals to quite a height, when it would seems to flutter or sustain itself by a series of trembling flutterings, only to »K)n dart off to the right or to the left and descend as if to alight, but, instead of so doing, to continue its flutterings and presently dart off in some new direction. Conceiving, at first, that this might be i>wing to some bewilderment, I arose from the crouching position that I had assumed u}K>n first flushing the bird. All the time I was standing the bird continued these wild, irregular movements; almost the moment I again crouched the bird descended and alighted. I tried the same experiment repeatedly, with the same results. The longer I remain standing the more irregular were the bird's movements in the air directly afler being flushed, while if I crouched at the instant of flushing, it immediately alighted at a short distance from its former position. While performing these gyrations the pipit seldom utters any note, excepting occasionally a sound which approaches more nearly to an attempt to whistle, in a medium but not too shrill key, the word weep, or v:eep-weep ; this is repeated once, twice, or even three times in rather slow succession. The same note is uttered as the bird flies about from place to place, but generally, so far as my observation goes, it picks up its food in silence. The young men and boys generally, along the coast, recognized the bird when I showed it them, and said that "it builds its nest in some low tree, against the trunk or some large, stout limb ; it is made of mud, plastered with grasses much like that of a robin's," and that the eggs are " smaller than any other egg we i'l IJii'if-fJfe in f.trf>rniit could not oUtiiM) thciit »Hti)o M'lisoii was t(n> far advaiti-cd. In some focalitk's I have (•oi»nti'ipit breeds ahinuhintiy .'tij alonj;' the Lal)nidnr «'(mst, hut seidonuKTurs in Snnimei fiir south of'thi' ('ana' loves company/' as the old adajje tells us, we will now try to do justice to the <*on»pany, in the shape of the third and last of the family. It is on that same trip " up the river " in which we discovered the yellow- rump and the black-p(dl that, most unexpectedly, a sleek little fellow, in a yellow dres», saviny: a black cap, appeared upon the top twig of a small tree, close by the river's side, and caroled forth a note of welcome, such as we had repeatedly heard while descending the stream in our boat, though we had not beforc^ seen the author thereof. Now he steps plainly out upon the branch and utters his carol and imniediately, without doubt being pressed with hunger after his effusive eloits of two of tln' iia- a inisoral)l«> existoiicr es oonipany," as the ■itice to tlic r he or she soon appeared again, 3ind, with a nod of recognition, tnatcil 4W^ to some more musi(\ We had a chariiiiiig acspuiintance with this littie fellow, brief «s it was, for suddenly a tall, lank individujil, eviiK'iitlyii huge )U)imal from some Western prairie, arose <|uite nr pine Hnnet ; nor tlie long distance a bird ^lit have been only a No bluebird, though birdcall blue"; no ^kbird. Thus, though icteristic Winter bird;* en their paradise ; yet not try another Win- •e twice over. Cold, timanity, fit only for that ; yet even there mies, in spite of the east wish them better Cab. k (old, all huddled ry ()os8ible jwsition, grown to the limbs f the very twigs on well as alder bird, ley look as if their lave given up the , and are standing far into the down le the natives feel three-months' sup- ix months of fierce >ld, and their toes Bird-Life hi Ldhi'mhr, 2') look cold. Some (lisresj)ectfiil urchin, suddenly and unhidden, rtiiiarks, " Which, the natives or the birds ? " and I, as su the hill towards the left. Again, result, eight birds shot on the ground, three on the wing. Thus the hunters followed uj) the flock bagging a fair potpie. Oh ! how fat the birds were. We saw the buntings many times after this grand massacre ; some- times they were few and wild, sometimes many and tame. Sometimes they alighted, and sometimes they hovered ab(»ut and above on the wing thus presenting most beautiful targets for gun practice. But in a few weeks, as soon as the snow was off the ground for good, they were all gone, and none did we see until the returning fall. My companion told me that the boys often follow them about and kill them with stones, they are so tame. LAPLAND LONGSPUR Centrophanen lapponiem. — (L.) Kaup. This species is found singly or in twos and threes, either alone or in company with flocks of snow buntings, evei-y where I i i 'I *' I !i!i' i^'.^^ 28 Bird-Life In Ldhradoi: along the coa.st, ever a characteri.stie but never a common bird, so far as I could discover. I saw several specimens in various houses where I visited, though I shot but one mysidf while on the coast. It was taken October 14, at Old Fort Xsland. It was feeding at dusk near the kelp on the shore and with sev- eral other birds, probably of the same species. They were very \\ild, and I watched a long while and pursued them sev- eral times before finally capturing one. It was (piite wild. The flight and notes so deceived me at first that I tlu»ught them shore larks. The development of the hind claw of this bird, from which it receives its name, is something remarkable, it often reaching three-fourths of an inch and over in length. I doubt if it occurs in Summer. SAVANNA SPARROW Passerca/us snvami. — (WiLs.) Bp. AxD now we come to the charaeturistic "chip-bird" of liab- rador as well as of the whole ** North shore," everywhere com- mon and a resident, excepting in Winter, and breeding in abundance with its nest in everv dooryard and under everv clump and bush of the field, or every bunch of sedges along the shore. At all times and in all weathers you can count them by the scores in sight of the dooryard, and about every field and hedge on island or mainland along the coast. It :s, perhaps, the most abundant of all the small land birds that in- habit these regions. It is a tame and familiar little fellow, and feeds without fear about the doorsteps and in the door- yard, building its nest, laying its eggs, and tearing its young often in grassy clumps not two rods from the house. They are common all over the islands and on the mainland, and their song is a well-kno*" attraction to a native of the place. So reads the note book, thus far confirming all that has been said in the previous paragraph, and which was written entirely from memory ; and what further does it say ? I shot a good many of them and found them displaying an unusually decid- lilrd-Lifc In Z,o?.'>vrJoT, '2) ever a common Mid, spcfimeiirt in various OIK' my.s.'lf wl.ile on )kl Fort J.sland. Ft shore and with .sev- :e.s. Tiiey were V( rv pursued them scv- It was (juite wild, first that I thougiit le hind eUiw of this nething remarkable, and over in length. "ehip-bird" of r.ah- ," everywhere coni- r, and breeding in and under every 1 of sedges ah)ng rs you ean coiuit , and about every the coast. It is, iuid birds that in- b'ar little fellow, and in the door- earing its young the house. They le mainland, and tive of the place, all that has been IS written entirely ? I shot a good unusually decid- «L»fl slmde of j)]uinuge, with the dark ^nd white eoloi-s plninlf ii«ark<'d. There was very little yellow about tiie head and eye 5»nd of soiue twciity speciniens none at all on the wing should tiers. I shot, one day, four of these birds, none c'f which had a particle ii" vellow upon them anywhere tluit I could distin- iguish ; a sntall tuft of white feathers at the base of the j)ri- anary coverts of the shoulder give the appearai'ce of a white •ediiiuir in the i»lacL' of the usual velhnv. The birds were all a'cniarkablv full iu col(»ratIon, and decided iu plumage ; the white very clear, the dark inverted arrow points quite distinct, as were als(» the grayish and buff edgings everywhere. One specimen alone had the buffy suffusion covering the breast* I cannot say that the rule holds good constantly, but in some thirty si)e('in!ens thf nui'.e had the yellow on the wing shoid- ■der, while the female and young-of-the-year of either sex had white in that place. The flight of this little fellow is short, tjuick, and irregular ; he is wonderfully spry and will appear and disappear so quickly that you can scarcely follow him ; then he is so cunning that when once he has made up his mind to play at hide-and-seek with you you might as well give up attempting to deceive him, for you will utterly fail in ninet}- nine cases out of every hundred. He will greet you with a few chirps of surprise from the summit of some ridge of rocks, drop behind them, and appear so suddenly and unexpectedly in some place rods aw{»v that you will think it is another bird* Its ordinary notes are a few faint chirps, but at times, especi- ally in early Spring or at night and morning, it will greet you with such a volume of song as to hold you entranced for many minutes at a time. It sometimes, at dusk, imitates somewhat the habits of the sandpipers, and feeds on and among tlie kelp along the shore in company with them, though I never saw more than two or three together at such a time in one place. SNOW BIRD Junco hyematiH. — (I^.) ScL. With regard to this species I am in great doubt as to just I jKs 3fa Bird-TAfe in Lufmuhrr what to say. I found it in April and in October on f)otfi is- land and mainland ; very rare on the former, occasional oi» the latter. Now, while it is thas fmind in its migrations I did not see it in Summer, thongh I had ampFe opportunities and seafrched carefully in localities where it wouhT seem al- most certain to reside. They must intleed have " kept entire- ly in the thick woods/' and been " rather timid " to have thui-; eluded me, yet Dr, Elliott Cones, who visited the coast in the Summer of 1890, found them thus and added that ** it is not so abundant as might be expected in liabrador, one of its- breeding regions. From the fact that I was not in a suitable locality, I did not observe it until the latter part of July, at which time it was in small companies, the old and the young associating together." TREE 8FABB0W Spizella montkolo. — (Gm.) Bd, Haw I been considering this and the foregoing species faunally speaking, I should have said of the forn:?r, not a resident but migrant; of this, resident, except during Winter, and breeds. I can find no record of this little fellow as a breeder here, though it must pass the Summer in this it» usual limits. I saw nnmbers of them inland October 12, I^ut a week or so later not one of them was to be seen anywhere : they must have migrated in a mass. They were very tame, and played in and about the alder shrubbery much as they do in the States. I did not see the two species in company, and do not know whether they associate together here as they do at home. WHITE-THROATED SPARROW PEAB0D7 BIRD Zonotrkhia albicolUa. — (Gm.) Bi'. ' EvERYM'HERP, I went in Labrador I was greeted with the shrill, sprightly, and cheering little tee-dee-dee pea-body pea- a. ii n^ J f^ i UJ i 5 II i iJ I. Bird- Life hi Lithmdor, Xii October on f)otfi i'h- •iner, occasional on in its migrations I nipFe opportunities it wouUT seem al- have " kept entire- iniid " to have thui* cd the coast in the led that " it is not abrador, one of its- is not in a suitable er part of July, at old and the young: foregoing species* the forn:?r, not a pt during Winter, little fellow as a nuner in this its d October 12, l^ut e seen anywhere : were very tame. much as they do in company, and r here as they do ROW }p greeted with the ?e pea-body pea- hod tj pea-hod if of the wliit(-throdi/ is re])eati>va.s certainly nothing in the note to <'ause one to be .suspicioiys, a rather shrill yet mellow tee-dee' eded and, ap- proacliing each other, walked slowly towards the station. I had unconsciously detected one of the Indian means of attract- ing the attention of their fellows without discovery to them- selves. It was a lesson in woodcraft to me that I have never forgotten. I found this charming little fellow every where I went all along the coast, though never quite so common as its intimate friend the white-cwwn. They were always together in sedge, field, thicket, and wood. In the Spring, at morning and at evening, they trilled forth their lay in common, and sometimes so closely together that one could barely distin- guish from which bird each note came. The white-throat is common everywhere and breeds. It seems to select situa- tions in which to place its nest more remote from habitations than does the white-crowned, which rears its young in cozy nests often a few rods only from the dooryards of the houses. I shot my first specimen at Old Fort Island, October 6. I 32 Bird-Life in La^iaJor. r *a\v others at tlic stiiut tiiuo ; they won' Hying about muffn like jHulin connxiny with tlu* «irvst.niiu nparrows, aiiKtng the low overgFeeiks on the i)Ainu\. They, Uko uuiiiy others of tlie sparrow trll)e, crept aUuvt so slyly i» iwul oiU of the hjj.shcs, now iV[>))earing ou the top twigs to ehant a few feeble notts,. elien clksai>|K'aiing mul rattling throivgh the closely woven twigs iMul U-anehes, or ereei,>ing l>etween tlu'n>, that one eould seareely get a nvonienl's sight of then), Whe» wounded their caution wa.s doubled. They would wedge thenwelves inU) the smallest eorners, under leaves^ twigs, and roots, i»to holes of. *he ground, anywhen> to escape obi«!rvation,. their hrowi) backs,, so near the eolor of tlve detniying f<)liage, Jind small »ize, greatly aiding tlvenu If winged In open ground they would run so swiftly as alniost to defy pursuit. Sometimes the little fellow had a way of appearing suddenly on the top- most twig of some bush and straightening hinvsdf out so that he looked as- much a part of the twig as tlve top to a mullein stalk or tlie pod af a nvilkweed. On the North shore, where there were tix>es of any size, they frecjuently ' "ould alight on some higb branch and so rulfle up their feathers as to look al- most as large as a robin They were very tame;, but chase them through the brash and they would at once become scy wlent, active, and shy that the longer you followed them the more you became convinced of the uselessness of the attempt : yet return to some convenient situation, sit down quietly and wait, and s athers as to look al- y tanu!^ but chase at once become mr followed them the less- of the attempt : down quietly and re you searched in he sliores of Belle mon than its next IROW r.) Sw. >ristic birds of the vhite-crowned one east to Belle Isle. It IS a tamer and more domestic bird than the white-throat and breeds e va- rious (piarters near by and not half a dozen yards away. Meanwhile the female and yoiM)g hoj) about, busily feeding, running in and out of the piles of old lumber and logs of •wood on the lawn, even picking up crund)s ami pieces that have been thrown out of the window to the dogs. The notes are pec-di'c pea-boihi, the pee being two notes higher than the rest of the song. I have seen young birds with brown on the top of head, grayish in place of white, and .--peckled breast ; in fact in all plumages from the nest to the adult bird, and watch- ed them grow from one to the other. In the Fall and perhaps early Spring tne birds are much less tame than at any other time of the year. They retire to the unfrecpiented parts of the coast somewhat back from the shore, and are shy and even al- most wild. They sing comparatively little, and if they Hnd that you are watching them will disappear in the shrubbery al- most instantly and you are liable not to see them at all again. They apparently begin to be scarce and shy as soon as the breeding season is over. rOX COLORED SPARROW PassereUa iliaca. — (JVlKJiU.) Sw. This charming little songster is the far-famed Canadian ih iiiiiiid 34 Bird-Life in Lnbmdor. •* russingel," or red singer : red thrush as some like b( ttcr. I found it all up and down the coast, though more common uiul even abundant at the extreme points. A most beautiful little scene conies to my recollection whenever I see or hear tlie *' russii.^el " ; it is pictured in a very short sentence in my note book, and the event occurred at lied Bay : We entered Red Bay of a Sunday. I shall never forget the clear, beautiful, Varying shades of green on the slopes, and the dark outlines of the houses, as the sun sank l>ehind the Western hillfs, overshadowing them for an instant, the first night of our en- trance into this charming little harbor. We could see the peo- ple all along the shore, wending their way to church ; while in place of the well-known music of the church bells, the rob- ins, here equally abundant as at home, and the " russingel;^," or fox sparrows, sent forth a perfect melody of harmony that accorded well with the scene. The first of these birds that I succeeded in obtaining was from a small flock of f^mr or five that had alighted upon the ridge-pole of the house on one of the islands where I was staying. That was on May 2d. It sings at morning and evening, and in places where it is abund- ant is found everywhere in the dells and low growths of the lowlands. It may breed, but of this I am unable to speak positively. On the lower North shore region, about Natasli- quan and Mingan, the fox-sparrow is very common and its habits are much the same as in the States. It prefers the scrubby, leafless bushes, and leaf-strewn ground of dry or moi.^t places, in which to rush about and play at a sort of aviariun tag, to all appearances much to their own satisfaction. ftUSTT BLACKBIRD RUSTY CRACKLE Scolecophagus ferrugincm. — (Gm.) Sw. My f5rst acquaintance with this species was on September 24th, while we were lying befogged just off St. Augustine, when a pigeon hawk, a small owl, probably the scops asio or screech owl, and one of these birds, each at different times, ^ -^ me like b( ttcr. I norc coninioii uiid i()i!«t beautiful little [ see or hear tlie lutence in my note We entered Heil »e clear, beafititiil, the dark outlines le Western hills, : night of our en- could see the pen- to church ; while irch bells, the rob- the ** russingels," r of harmony that hese birds that I )ck of four or five le house on one of as on May '2d. It where it is abund- >w growths of the n unable to speak on, about Natash- f common and its f. It prefers tlie ind of dry or moist a sort of aviarian satisfaction. 6BACKLE I.) Sw. ivas on September off St. Augustine, { the scops asio or at ditferent times. Bird- Life hi Lnlmidor. 95 came and lit upon the rigging of our vewsel. The blackbird was very tame, and as we offered it no violence it remained .some time with us. I afterwanl found that this bird had a Summer breeding range all along the coast here, at least as ^ar as Ij'Anse au Louih;, at which place it wa.s a resident. Mr. F "ed Davis informed nie that the bird occasionally, built its nest in his woodpile — the people there are obliged to cut enough wood at one time to last the year around ; thus there is always more or less of a pile about in the Summer season — and the boys call it quite common there. This, I believe, is the only species of blackbird that regularly remains so far North to breed. The rusty blackbird, as you i-emember, is generally regarded as an unsocial and retiring bird ; here it is the re- verse, and its nest is not unlike that of a small robin with many sticks outside, and its eggs about three or four, bluish- white with spots and dashes of light brown. It feeds upon the seeds of various plants and a few insects. Strange to say, they are, at various places along the coast, frequently kept as cage birds ; and their cunning, and power of mimicry of song, is something quite remarkable. RAVEN Conms corax. — L. The raven is a common resident, both up and down the (!oast all the year around, and breeds. I met it first Septem- bor 24th, off St. Augustine ; September 27th, at Old Fort Is- land, I saw several of them and noticed their slow and heavy flight. Their cry is a hoarse croaking note. I have seen them flying high up in the air, nearly out of sight, and low and quite tame. Their instinct regarding a gun is only a trifle dul- ler than is that of our common crow, which in many respects they closely resemble. They appear to be everywhere com- mon and seem to replace the crow here as farther South the crow replaces them. They are very hard to hit, very acute, never about when you are looking for them, and abundant i Hinl-Ufc hi L'*'i">^ (.fM-ruriiiji tlu'in. Tlu'ir frt- vorite liiiKPtH are the stiip'-liciuls ami otlicr places wliorc re- fuse niatttT is kept. In Summer they are always seen near the summits of inaeeessible erajrs and on tlie hilltops in the inte- rior where they breed. In the Winter, while drivinir in the dog teams over the frozen ponds, rivers, or across the bays, they often appear, like sentinels, jx-rclied on the top of some dead tree overhanginfr the ice or hoverinj; near as if waitinfj; to pick up any chance refuse that you might leave for them or accidentally drop. In fact, wherever yon go in Labrador, and at any season of the year, you will be siu-e to fall in with one or more of the^' birds. It always amused me to see them while Hying, as I often did, suddenly double up their wings, take an obli«|ue and very peculiar sort of dive, then righting them- selves again at the same time uttering their hoarse croak. Xo one at all familiar ith their movements could ever mis- take a raven for a crov, or rice versa, while it was Hying. Aly notes on this bird will perhaps add a few items of interest con- cerning the habits of the species, though, in the main, they but repeat, with a better choice of words i)erhaj)s, what has been said above : We have had several ravens hovering about the fish stage all day to-day (October 14) ; the j)eople here seem to regard them as birds of ill omen, and say that they are in league with the devil. You can rarely get any of the na- tives to shoot at one of these birds, no matter how near they come, and they seem positively afraid of the results of so do- ing, fearing that it will bring them misfortune for the remain- der of the year. The bird is really a very difficult one to shoot. I have often lain in wait for it with my gun, firing at it both when at rest and on the wing, even at a short distance off, and had it raise its huge hlapk wings and Hy slowly away Avith a harsh and hollow croak that seemed to defy nie to ti*y my worst. I have wasted more extra large ducking charges at the raven than at almost any other bird, and obtained the least results. The bird itself is very common everywhere, Summer and Winter, breeding on the high cliffs and hilltops hh-iJ-J/ifc hi J,tif'i Ks(|uiniaux Uiver. It seems hijrhly prohahle that strag- glers nught o<'(!ur so fur East ; as the two hirds are so differ- ent, both in size and erv, thev would not be easilv con- founded. CANADA JAY Whiskey Jack P(>7'.so>T».s ('(iti(nh'ii.sin. — (L.) 1)1'. A more meddlesome, noisy, indcjK'udent young fellow than this same good-for-nothing whiskey jack probably never ex- isted ; and yet you would grow even fond of him for his very impudence, if nothing else, were you to s])end six long Winter months snowed up ten miles in the Interior of I^jbrador, with birds and animals your almost sole companions. This jay is at times very wild and at others very tame. Its appearance while flying is much like that of the white-rumpod shrike, at least so it struck nie when first I saw it flying. I have usually found it wild, and very difficult to approach. I have pursued it over field and thicket, in high woods and from one tall treetop to another for hours together before succeeding in shooting it. In its cunning and sagatuty it much resembles its neighbor, the blue jay, but its notes are very different. It is generally very noisy, a single pair making disturbance r 38 Bird-Life in Labrador. fa enough for a dozen ordinary birds. Though this jay appears to be of tolerably large size yet the body is very small ; the feathers, being long, downy, and fluffy, enable the bird to ruf- fle them up so as to present the appearance of being fully twice its real size. A double protection is thus presented against the extreme cold weather of this coast. They are more or less common everywhere in the interior, and the far- ther inland we went the more abundant and tamer they ap- peared to be. The people from these interior cabins told great stories of Sir Jack, who was evidently a great favorite with them in spite of the harsh words that they occasionally employed regarding him, though I failed to learn in what respect he so greatly annoyed them. They said that they M'ere everywhere common about their huts, in the thickets around, and would often come into the very dooryard and pick up crumbs that might be thrown to them there. At these "Winter quarters" the dwellers always have a number of dogs, which require to be fed once a day from pieces of old seal or whale meat that has been frozen and carefully pre- served for them. In order to keep and protect this dogs' meat a simple raised platform, six or eight feet from the ground, is erected on four poles, and the meat simply thrown upon it and fed to the dogs, cut up upon some billet of wood with a hatchet, in frozen chunks just as it is. Over and on these stages the ravens and jays alight in perfect crowds. Now, why it should particularily exasperate the indwellers of the cabins to see this small jay slyly thieving a few pieces of meat I can not see. They can not make very great inroads u]M)n it ; yet, in answer to the question as to why the jay ex- asperated them so, the cry always was : " They steal the dogo' meat." I strongly suspect that the sentiment had more words than meaning to it, and the true relation between the people and these birds was rather as when one quarrels good- naturedly with an intimate friend. I saw stragglers all through the Winter, and have no doubt but that it breeds abundantly inland during the Summer. JDird-Llfe In Lnhntdor, 39 NIGHT HAWK ChonledileH popetuc. — (V.) Bd. As I have already included in my list several so-called ex* tra-limital species, a species not to be sought ])rol)ably within the true bounds of Labrador proper, so I quote the night hawk as being common at Natashquan, and probably more or less 80 all along the southern portion of the North shore. I in* elude this and other like species because I noted them sd near Labrador proper, though I do not care thereby to become in*- volved in a critical examination of the birds of the whole of Canada, which, at the present time, I wish particularly to avoid. I may, at the end of the present paper, add a feW words upon hypothetical occurrences in Labrador and its im- mediate vicinity, and my reasons for considering each species ; but upon this I am by no means decided. The date of this occurrence was June 20th. --■-■ :il 'f:i '"■.■ ■ I' 1:1 BELTED KINGFISHEB Ceryle aleyon, — (L.) Boie. ThK kingfisher appears to be more common evett than the night hawk, having been seen by our party several times, and reported from Natashquan to Esquimaux River, at the former place, and for some distance east of it, being regarded as a regular Summer resident and breeding, though by no means common. It is safe to infer, timt where the kingfisher is found breeding it is not at all unlikely for one to find one or more species of the swallow tribe breeding also near by, though none were reported to me. HAIRT WOODPECKER Picu8 vilfomis. — L. In writing up my biographies of birds I often think of the terrible monotony there would be in going over and over the same old names, and racking one's brain time and again, to m : ■ r J' u 40 Bird-Life in Labrccdor. h I think what to say concerning each, were it not that hints Jo differ in their habits somewhat according to their h)cation, and the varied scones, trials, and triumphs tiirough which one goes in the pursuit of the bird life of any new region are al- ways fresh and interesting. I read my title, hairy wood- pecker. In writing lists, papci's, books even how many times have r }x;nned that name, and each time to add something, be it never so small, that was new, I hope at least, to our knowl- edge of the species. So in life, we go over and over the same scenes, in memory and in reality, but so varied from their con- nection with friendships and external objects .hat, in their new dress, we scarcely recognize them. Imagine my surprise then, in distant Labrador, one day, October 28, at the sudden appa- rition of a small calieo-eolored bird, vigorously peckiiu;' away at the dead limb of a tall old white birch tree, not a dozen rods away from where I stood viewing the remains of an old beaver's dam, which blocked the channel of a wide gully through which a diminutive rill trickled into the wide pond a few feet below. Be still, my heart, be still ! Am I in the woods just back of my Massachusetts' home ? And is not that a responsive hammer at the distant left? I wake to the realities of the situation immediately, and a nu)ment later a fine specimen of the present species tumbles, wing over wing, to the ground. I bag it aud rush for the mate, which proves to be a downy. Thus I secure two strong reminders of that same well-known woods just back of my Massachusetts' home — even among the deep snows and coid weather of far-off Labrador. My notes of these two s|)ecies are short and to the point relative to its occurrence here. I shot one of these birds the same day with a sp<'cimen of puhcsccnM, in a lonely dell by a j>ond, on an old dead tree. It was nt)t a bit wild, and allowed me to come quite close to it. Its habits appeared to be almost exactly like that of the same species at home. Others have been reported as shot by parties further up the river, and it aj>pears not rare along the edges of the ponds and rivers inland. It probably resides all the year around and breeds. lo ' lliiil-I/if'i ill /jiihidilur. 41 DOWNY WOODPECKER 1'irli.s ^)iihn branches of a tall tree. It required some patient watch- ing to detect its precise location, as it was rather w'ilder than tl>e former species. Others are reported from the interior along the river, and it appears, like its neighbor here, by no means rare. It seems to have much the same habits as birds of the same species that I have observed elsewhere. March 'J9th, my diary says, a specimen was shot and others seen at Old Fort Lake. It is j)robably a regular resident all the year around and breeds during the summer months. BLACK-BACKED THREE-TOED WOODPECKER PlcnkleH (ifcficns. — (8w.) Gl! A siN(ii,K sjK'cimen is reported from a collcH'tion in the possession of one of the natives on the coast by Dr. Elliott Cones, who states that he saw it there, and thinks that it may not be uncommon in the interior. ' >^ ■! 60LDEN-WIXGED WOODPECKER FLICKER ('nhijittx tniidtiix. — ( L. ) Sw. It was regarded by the natives as extremely rare. 1 sa\y the wing of one of these birds at L'Anse Clair. No doubt other evidences of its capture arc common along the coast. GREAT H0RN3D OWL lliiho ]'ii'i/iiiit'< and ptarinipm. He did not rejfard it as at all rare. It also |)rol)ably breeds. LABRADOR GYRFALCON FaU'o ffyrfalco. — L. — ohsoletus. — Of this same species my notes say : saw the bird and have no doubt but that he had a nest on an inaccessible crag near the house, but was unable to obtain it. I, at various times, .saw several hawks in the dim distance that I, at the time, had a very -trong suspicion might have been this rare bird. 1 be- lieve I must have seen it on several occasions. The one men- tioned had his nest quite near our house, and we several times queried, very strongly, as to whether or no we (jould not reach tlie nest, the edges of which we could see way above us on a crag that apparently could be reac!»ed neither from above nor below, with r(>pes and ladders ; but the actual attempt was too foolhardy for the enthusiasm of any of us or all ci\ ■i ■ I n I i ill either of the two hitter |»hnees, while it is (|iii(e eou)ni(»ii in the former. We had several alight on our vessel, hoth j^oiug and eoniiiig, and found still other evidences of its occurrence on the diilf coa«Jt. It is a|)|)arently a shore bird, not going hir is'aiid. Yet in this supposition I may he wrong as we saw it hunting land birds j)rincipally. The testimony every- where was that it was not at all rare. It |)robabIy breeds. These same reniarks iiuti/ also apply to the sparrow hawk, but we have no absolute proof that such is the case from rec- onls or sp?('imens. SPRUCE PARTRIDGE CANADA GROUSE Otnacc ciiiiailctisis. — (\j.) Kkich. Tins is anoiher l)ir(l of which I have most plea.>iiig recol- lections ; as it served me for dinner (jn more than one occasion. I do not consider them the be.iirds liimself as safe anywhere hut in tlie > ery bushes tliat eoiicoal him from tlie hunter's approaoli. Having onee gained Ids perch of observation lie cranes his neck ind looks blindly about in every direction. At this time the hun- ter approaciies, ev<'n recklessly, and secures his game by the very unmanly process of knocki:!g him over with some long- pole provided for the purpose, or even with the very mu//le of his gun. Sometimes several will alight upon a tree or be ore abundant the spruce partridge becomes. There is another species of the brown-colored partridges thit i.i o(;casionally found here, if repor;s be true, which goes under the name of *' pheasant; " whether it be the ruffed grouse of the States or some other species I (H)uld not learn. I have '1 H J I'll I'i \^:\ n V ■■f 1 ■■■ *, -tl' ■ " f 48 ItirtULife ill I.tiliritihii'. no tloiiht l)iit that tlio rutted j>;r(»ust' niifjht occjisioiiiillv stray so far out of its raugo, luit am by uo moans ('crliiiii. ^* V [i h \ WILLOW PTARMIGAN Litijopux alhiis. — ((J.\r.) Ari). Of tlu' ptarmigans aruitliologists, as well as tlic natives of Labrador, insist that there are three speeies iidiabiting these regions. Several intelligent eitizens with whom I eonversed n|)on the subject, and who were themselves hunters of no mean repute, assured me that these three speeies itould be told in eonneetion with the usual distinguishing marks by the color of the iris. They explained that the rsfr!f<. — Lkai'II. This species wns known cvervwiu'rc 1 . .tt iis t\w " nioun- tain" partrid^*'. Thov told u\v that it was only loimd lii«;h up anion<; tlu' hills and that it did not descend into thi' open land alontjj the shores of the lakes and rivers, or associate with the " willow " partridjije. One or two specimens only were se- cured by our party. They are much rarer than (ilh'.tx hut found alony; the siinie extent of coast. I BLACK BELLIED PLOVER Quebec Curlew f^(jitaf(tfol(t /it'hrticd. — (L.) Cl'V. I THINK that the name of (iuel)ec ("nrlew must he a local CJanadian name for this bird, for I never heard it except on my journey from (Quebec to Labrador. The l)ird was found in small flocks, wherever we went, Irom (iiu'bec to Hlaiic Sablon, and it occurs even farther n(»rth and cast. It was fjenerally rather wild and, wadiufj; deep into the water, i\'i\ on the small sea animals that it (M)uld capture there Its flij^ht was low and short. Wlien approched while feeding; they would spread out wver consideral)le <;round, rnnnintjat the same time as far into the water iis their lonj; lejis would let them, before takinj; fli<;ht. If on one side of a creek they rarely flew farther than across to some point of security opposite, while they wonid fij<» to feedinf; a^aiti at (»ncc. If on an opjjosite side of some creek it was generally very easy to call them across by the usual imitation of their cry of i. Tlu'v say tliat it is not the part of a jjood liuntcr or tisJK ri;ian to ji;ivo the " points of the craft " away ; l)nt surely there is very little chance that the writer and the reader of these skc lies will ever " collide," especially upon the same huntin},^ <;round. The hirds that we foJind were all in the frray plumajre ; 1 recollect, I believe, a siufrle specimen, in the collecti»»n of one of the natives, showin near that I was able to separate the species when they flew. The ring neck is one of the cii.xracteristic birds of I^abrador, and breeds abundantly all up and down the coast. The nest is usually (iomnosed of a few dry grasses scraped together in the open field and in the most exposed situations. Tlie eggs are four. The bird's artifice draw' the intruder awav from her nest or even her vouns; was tridv a '^"'l i^Lj :«; i-i 11 tf ! k..; I .)'i Bird-Life in Laln-mlur. (lisi)liiy of bird intolloet if evov there was niiytliiiig of timt na- ture displayed in a bird. It was iisnally successful. The cripple winjj and hune foot process were practiced and sonie- thiies both at once. The usual method of droppinji; one's hat where the bird first started froni would not even succeed in revealinj? to me the nest though the little ones, too impatient to remain still for any length of time, too often revealed their own hiding place in their hurry to run around amorig the sand an/teM-<', repeated or not, is characteristic of the bird and well known. The flight of the grass !=:upe is not unlike that of our common snipe, though generally it is more slow and regular. They are seldom found in companies of more than half a dozen together and are more frequently in twos or threes, or even singly. It does not appear to be rare anywhere that I observed along the coast. My notes read : September JiO, at Old Fort Island. I shot several of these birds from a passing flock and saw them more than once flying, or on the flats near the house and in the grass on the lawn ; they did not appear com ii'-oii at this time. One s|)ecimen had a brown- ish ash suffusion ; another was dark and streaked on a clear ash ground. The latter had the hind neck more widely streaked with black, while in the former it was more narrow and of a closer pattern. SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPER Ereunetcs 'puxUlus. — (I^,) Cass. Thk occurrence of this little sandpiper in lven in many minute particulars, but either I saw m lose Bird- Life in Lahntdnr i}i> very few of these or they have become so identitied in habits with several other species with which they agree very strong- ly that I cannot disentangle the meshes with the slightest satisfaction. In my larger wo-k the only notice of them that I can find — ta^:en in the Fall when all the sandpipers were common — reads : An occasiimal EreuneieH pmillm was seen, bnt they were rare. My manuscript notes come to my rescue here somewhat, and say: September 20, at Green Island, in the river St. Lawrence, I shot several from flocks that landed on the fiats. They were rather tame, and alighted all over the island which was covered with small stones, lumps of gray moss, and sand ; pools of water were here and there all along the surface of the island. On such a place the glitter of the particles of the whole, even in a clouded sky, prevented 'one from distinguishing objects very close beside them. Here the ** peeps " were very common, and they would spring up from the sand before me in every direction, and so near me that I could often have almost reached them with a good-sized pole. In every direction that I walked I drove them up in scores always singly or in twos or threes. When thus frightened a- way they would either alight again in the sand alone and run about or remain perfectly quiet until I had passed or again flu.shed them ; or, more often, a great many of them would gather in a flock on the edge of some pool of water, to be hunted from one end of the island to the other, or until they broke up again or left entirely. The singular part of my diary reads : September 80, I shot one at Old Fort Island and only one all the Fall. I found it with a large number of honapaiiii. I am greatly of the opinion that my notes are c( "rect, and that the locality where I did most of my shore shooting while on the coast did not happen to be as favorable for this species as for the others 1 secured there. The bird is certainly common along portions at least of the Labrador coast, and it could not easily be mistaken for any other spe- cies, as its peculiarities are too decided. The singular habits which these birds possess of wheeling about in an apparently f '\ I'.:, li u »'•■■', '! f'l 56 Hi I'd- Life ill Liihrddur. blind flurry for a short distaiure, only t») return to uoarly or quite the same spot again, makes me certain that I have seen flocks of them upon more than one occasion. :M RED FHALABOFE PJialaropua fulicuriuH. — (L.) \\v. I SAW several Mocks and single birds, which were undoubt- edly of this species, just off the coast at sea, between Belie Isle and Chateau Bay. As Dr. Elliott Cones procured speci- mens from off Belle Isle I am the more certain that those I saw were of this species. They were very graceful little fel- lows and not at all wild, except in keeping in the sea off land, all the time that w<> saw them at least. WHITE-RUMPED SANDPIPER BONAPARTE'S SANDPIPER ActodrniiKin hondpdi'fii. — (ScHL.) CoUKs. EvREnwHKRE I wcut iu Labrador I heard of the " Sand birds." What the sand l)ir(ls were was a great mystery until I shot some of them and procured the above species. To say that they were abundant would be spc.iking very mildly ; they were everywhere, both up and down the coast. It is the sandpiper of Labrador, and equally common on the rocky anventy small flocks of five to seven each, ^M /':! 'M •V.-'t' "I f <,t; >: ' ' ;'( m\ m ■(.'V't m o« Bif(J-]J}(' III Jjiiiradiir. all Hyiiif^in different direetioiis to round >:<>nie hill o«- crest of land, or sini|)!y circle in tiie :iir, would t'orni ii^^iiiii with a xlinali, and the whole sweep iDujestically to the kelp and hef^in to feed in common. Most of the specimens ohtainetl at this season of the year (()('tol)er H) liad a worn and iaded look, and were not nearly as plump or as well plinnaged as speci- mens that I shot later which ha(i liright chestnut edgiiiirs to nearly all the upper feathers. ( )ne of these specimens iiad the head and neck nearly char ;!sli, of a very minute pattern. I often found specimens where the tail feathers were half black (the upper and side ones) and half white. I greatly suspect that Triuf/a haird'ii, that rare si'.ndpiper, iiears a stronger relation to ctrtain forms perhaps of adult, worn breeding plumage of T. hoinifiartii tha'i is generally believed. A single specimen that 1 secured resembled the hiiiniii form so (dosely that I will tlescribe it from my note book : Sep- tember .'30, Old Fort Island. I to-day shot a bird that an- swers nearly to the description of T. hairdii. 1 picked it out of a mess of some eighty of himajxirfii that 1 sh(>t one morn- ing for l)reakfast, l)ut before I could skin it, though I laid it one side (;arefully, either the cat eat it or it was picked and potteill to tofs, 18.50; extent, 28; wiiijr, 8.7.") , tail, ."J.^r) ; hill, il'i: III) feathered tihia, l.l-'} ; tarsus, 'I.oi) : hiiul t oe an( claw, ..■)(); nnddle toe and ciaw, iJio. It was a male hird and had the jjiz/anl full of gravel and nearly dijjested matter. The people tell me that it is occasionally seen in the Fall, hut that it is rare. Audubon speaks of it as " rare alonj? tlu At- lantic district in Spring and Autumn. Breeds in the barren ji'rounds of the Arctic seas in ^reat luimbers." It seems to be <'ontined to the more middle interior parts of the Arctic re- jfions, and the majority of writers whose works I have seen speak of it, as I have jyencrally found it, as rare aloufi; the Ivtsterii Atlantic aniai'y. The derivation of the word 1 was unable to learn. It is by no means a rare bird, thoufjfh from what T saw of it it seemed to perfer localities up the river and on the shores bordering the nuiinland rather than the islands, perhaps because it was less likely to be m\ i t r'i, II,- V i'!8 M', 62 hinl-Lij'c III Lahi'ddiir. SOLITARY SANDPIPER Wii/acoj)/) ilitti Koiifariibs. — ( ^^' 1 1 -s. ) B I •. Not rare in Spring and Fall. HiTodi. I saw this little sandpiper on several occasions hut always alone antl standing or running ahont some slij)pery water (»r kelp-covered rock in a most inelaneholv manner. 1 would not call it common vet it was hardly rare. SPOTTED SANDPIPER Tri)i(/oi(U'.s iiuu-iihtvinK. — (Jj.) (Juav. The same remarks might he made of this l>ird as of the last, and with equal proj)riety, as to its occurrence and hrced- ing ; hut it is much more common, confined more to the land and shore line, and far more tame. It is familiarly known there as here by the names " tip-up," " teeter," etc., though by far its most common epithet is that of the " crooked- winged bird," doubtless from the peculiar way in which it holds its wings when flying. HUDSONIAN CURLEW JACK CURLEW Nnmcn'mii IhkIxoiiu'iix. — Lath. Thk Jack Curlew nuurh resembles the Es<|nimaux Curlew; but it is easily distinguished by its call, which is louder and less refined than that of the latter bird. It appears later in the Fall, in much lesser numbers, is more solitary in its habits, and frequentsthe water 'sedge more than the interior sweepsof hill- side and meadow, the home of its neighbor. It is not rare in Fall — the only time of the year I saw it. ESaUIMAUX CURLEW DOUGH BIRD Nninen'mx horedds. — (Fohst.) I^ath. I SHAMi not soon forget the many |)leasant and excising Til. Hi nl- Life ill Labrador. 63 (tie tramps 1 liavc at one time or another made after this prince of j;a:iie birds of the Northeast, the curlew. Other j;aine is as iiothiiii? when compared to thi« true ffaine hird of Fiahrador, yet it is sehh>m found excepting in the Fall, and then only for the short space of two or three weeks, Thout^h hv no means so (Mtmnion as it was years ajfo, and even now has years wlien it is uukjIi rarer than at other times, it still maintains its jm 64 Bin}- Lift' in Jjihnnlnr. 1 1, V ;i 1 , i"! ! :: ! than small Hocks ; t!u'v rirc usually also much more easily aj)- proachcd. A small flo<'k is jjcncrally a wild one, ami 1 have spent hours ami hours in tollowinj^ up small t1 cks, of from ten to thirty birds, over hills and Wntad stretches of talde land 'without once ge'tinj; a sinj^lc shot Tt them, tj c(»me sud- denly upon a laifije Hock out o which, wit" out much trouble, I would secure a ijood mess at a siiifile discharj;e of nty j;un. The Hi^ht cf the curlew is heaiitiftd and ffraccful, tliou^jh very hard to discrihe. It is very swift, and when just alxuit to ali};ht it seems to poise its wiiijjs aiul drop to the trround with a glidinj; motion most beautiful t«t the siirht. It^* note is a clear and mellow whistle which, like that of most sh(»rc birds, is easilv imitated ; the binis respond readilv o the imi- tation. The curlew is everywhere looked upon as tl.e charac- teristic bird of liabrador, and |)ersons visilinji the coast are not considered successful hunters, no ntatter how larfje their baj; in other direction, uidess they have secured at least one mess of curlu'ws. The curlews leave as suddenly as they aj)- pej\r. Usually by the Hrst of Septend)er or a few days later tlu'V have all gone southward, when the .lack curlews take their ])lace, thoufi;h in much smaller numbers. When feeding the Hight of the curlews .is low ; when migrating, high. When Hying low t e Hight \s short. The Hesh is dark ; they are much less abundant now than formerly, an<1 are getting wary of their usual feeding grounds from the numl)er of !un- ters that pursue them. ^ BITTERN STAKE DRIVER • ' Jintdiirnn muf/HaiiK. — (IJAitTU.) ("oi'Ks. This bird i. not considered as rare by the local sportsmen and trophies of its occurrence here are often seen. I do not believe it to be really common, yet it may occur occasionally. The frc(|uent reports I heard of " a bird with very long neck and tall legs," was probably a reference to this species. The green and the night heron mav possi1)ly occur in i^abra- dor though I sliould hardly l(»(d< for them so far nor(.h and east. /tlril-fJfc III l.iihiiiilor. •!•'» iivc roiii fiid- dIc, tun. CANADA GOOSE llci'iiiclii i-iiiiiiilciixis. — (li.) lion;. NVk saw miiiiy a Hnck and sinjilc individual of this n<)l)l(' flixmv l)ird wliilc in Ijabrador, and here I niijflit fairly inaUe a most cxct'llcnt Irish hull and say that of tho many we saw wc " didn't jrct l)nt ouv and that one wc didn't fjet." I-'locUs after flocks would f;<» honkin<>; hy ns ovcrhca(» to Bonne Esperane«< about eifi;ht miles from our stoppinj>; place. Our curlofis experience «>'■ this trip may he of interest to some <»f your readers and 1 will relate it : There were four of us in the boatnnd we were just ahout half way hetween the islands and at the entrance of a passage completely filled and blocked with floating cakes of ice, and were just wondering how we shoidd accomplish loon, especially if it be a, young one, is quite shnilar, hence the comparison. As it passed our stern we detnded, froui its long neck and unmistakable ,honk, that it was a goose. We all ceased rii)wing and crouched ii^to^tho bottom of our boat. One of the |>arty immt'diatcly Iriing his cap upon Ihe end of his gun barrel and, swinging it around vigorously, shouted at tl •' same time most loucHy.. The ;';oose evidently saw' or h:ai'd or ln>tli the signal and began to vary its course : socui it turned completely and flew directly oyer tlu' l)osri. It was still high up in the air, so high that ilobody would fii'c at it. Out of despair! raised my four-shot lioper . ■ .1 ■I -I -i" '4/. 1' f- i r'f:: i^' m .j'll il 66 Bml-IAfe in Labrador. — the best gun for shooting I ever had in my hands — and gave it a charge. Far away as it was, the old goose doubled up its wings and tumbled head over heels to a block of ice in the very middle of the passage before us. The bird was wounded, not killed. Then began the fun. As fast as we pulled from one block of ice to another the goose would hop just so far ahead, keeping up a most vociferous sconlding at us meanwhile. Work as we would we could not lesson the distance, and after nearly four hours of the hardest kind of toil we left the goose and began to turn our attention to getting home again. It took us some hours to get out the passage into which we had worked our way, but we accomplished it at last and reached our destination about dark. The Canada goose is not rare all along the coast, but it seldom stops, except here and there, over a night or two. We do not call it a rep- resentative bird of the region. BRANT GOOSE Bernida brenta. — (Pall.) Steph. TiiR brant goose is much more common in the lower part of the province than on the Labrador coast pro})er. From Cape Whittle westward along the north shore it is by no means rare, and often even abundant. I saw a number of good sized flocks at and near Mingan and even had an opportunity of tasting this delicious wildfowl. I should hardly call it a bird of Labrador, though in the sense that the word Ijabrador is so often used (although '.vrongly) as compi-ising all the north shore, it is by no means a rare migrant, occurring in flocks just offshore and even a short distance up the livers along the coast. DUSK7 DUCK BLACK DUCK Anas ohficura. — Gm. Thih is the most common fresh water duck of Labrador, III'; 1 "It Int lie Of Binl-L'tfe in Labrador, 67 and is abundant everywhere in ponds, pools, and flooded mea- dow lands. They generally fly in family groups of half a dozen or so, seldom in flocks of any great extent. They are not hard to approach if there be the slightest rock or hillock behind which to conceal the hunter, but in open ground it is impossible to get within shot of them — the usual device prac- ticed with the diving sea ducks being here entirely useless. The islands and mainlands of Labrador are cut up every- where by ponds and pools of water, both large and small. In these the black ducks delight to revel ; you are sure to find them at niorning and at evening, and even often in the day. When frightened they immediately take wing and rise high in the air, thus giving the gunner a good opportunity to shoot them while on *he wing. Their flight is not over swift, though strong. The birds are pretty hard to kill and need rather large shot. They are splendid eating, and hence much prized by the natives as an article of food. They are found in Spring and Fall all along the coast and evidently breed inland during the Summer in large numbers. p. ■.ti!. .'li'! ,,■'»■ -■:;i!i m PINTAIL DUCK Dajila acuta. — (L.) Jen. We had considerable sport over the manner in which the occurrence ot this duck in Labrador was demonstrated. One of the natives, whose prowess in the hunting line was always the sport of the region around, and whose long, old-fashioned, single-barreled relic of a former century seemed as unsports- man-like as its owner, who never went hunting — probably for fear of this same ridicule — one day espied two ducks feed- ing in the shallow, low-tide pools near the house. Hastily loading his gun — for the first time in a year or more — he hurried to a cover and succeeded in bringing in a specimen of the above species — probably to boast of it forever after- ward. The hunters reported it as very rare, and none of them had any name for it, a pretty good sign that it was ■•■■.!; ■•;,! G8 Bird-Life in Ldhrador seldom taken along the coast. It is not rare in N'ewfnimd- land, I believe. This one was secured at Old I'^.rt Island. AMERICAN WIDGEON Mareca mneHc((ii(i. — (L.) Stkph. AHixoFiE female of this species was shot in Old Fort iJay November 27, 1880. They are said to winter here in great numbers clustering in the waters of the river and in other congenial places. In Summer thev are said to breed not uncommonly up the river, and that they lay their eggs in hollow trees; and one man told mo of a nest of eight eggs that he found in an old birch. It occurs along the north shore in inland streams and other favorable places. It did not seem to be regarded as a rare bird by those to whom I showed the specimen though universally regarded as a fresh water bird ann the wilder sea S" ^f M. NIT 72 Bird-Life in Lnbrodor. EIDER DUCK Somateria moUissinia drenseri. — (Shakpe) Coues. In my recent work I have had considerable to say regard- ing this and the succeeding species of sea ducks. They have so many habits in common that it did not seem out of place to concentrate my sea duck shooting experience upon this species, and the hunter will be able to judge for himself if I have unwisely allowed an injustice to this or any succeeding species by so doing. My notes start with the species in early Spring, after having been hived up for six dreary Winter months three miles in the interior, or at the head of a bay protruding nearly that far inland. My first Spring ducking was on the afternoon of Tuesday, April 12, when several of us drew one of our small, flat boats over the ice to the clear water beyond and, launciiing it, stnrted for the gunning point. We brought home a good bag full of birds that night, and you may be sure that they were well served and well disposed of the next day. In describing, in general, the arrival of the Spring birds, my notes say : Soon the ducks began to fly and then such sport as we had. The king eider came first in the season, then the common eider; the former is called the pass- ing, the latter the laying duck. The birds at first fly in large flocks, often thousands in a flock ; and generally the different species do not mingle. They have a certain course which they pursue ; and the shoales over which they fly are called " gun- luuv points." Here the men and boys congregate and, lying low, behind some rock or cake of ice, await the fight. Some days the birds fly thickly, others rarely any pass ; the weather and various causes aflcct the flight. The people see them at a great distance, and ofteii hear the beating of their wings be- f»)re they see them. Th(? birds fly over or along the side of the station, and the minute the head of the flock has passed the first or head gunner he rises or turns and fires when all the others follow suit, then the slaughter Ixigins. Often , r Pyinl-Llfv hi Lctiy ' the hun- ter's fire. The best way to pursue botii yo (nj ani.; old birds is to drive them into some angular indenti..^ >)f .he surround- ing islands or land, and then wait for thom t appear on the surface of the water after their long dive Tl"; boat, station- ed too far away for them to swim clear o. it, the hunter has every chance for bagging his game. I have noticed that wounded birds do not swim far above eighteen inches to two feet below the water ; both bill and head are extended for- ward in a straight line. The old birds will ofteii swim over a (piarter of a mile, if not a full half, beneath the water with- out appearing to take air. As far as my experience goes, the birds are rather tame in the Winter season, or at least in the extreme Fall ; they huddle together in close bunches of from fifty to several hundred birds, and I am informed that an old resident once fired into a cluster thus gathered and bagged fifty-nine birds with a single discharge of his gun, a common large-bore fowling piece. Occasionally the old female birds, in full heat, will be shot that have the back and wing coverts edged with deep rusty brrwn, and often almost brick red; other birds smaller (young), at the same season of the year, will have the feathers, particularly of the breast, edged with deep gray; young birds generally have the top of the head darker and the head much lighter. In some old birds the whole jdumagc will be unvaried and of a dark brown color. Large flocks are usually made up of a number of small fam- ily broods of from five to seven birds that unite from some common cause, and then pursue some common flight until scattered from other causes. The usual feeding grounds of the eider duck are shallow waters over a bed of sea weed or mud at some rods from land on its south, southwest, or west side. They feed principally upon moUusks, barnacles, and a variety of marine animals life, with an occasional piece of sea ..,1 v/f ■ :.:':j .A M 7<) liii'd-Lifc in Ldhrofhv. I I': weed, siieh as may be obtained in the shallow basins of aiu-u- mulated dvhrh, and on the " landwash," as the hind washed by the tide is here ealled. In Summer the dueks breed in hirge munbers on the islands al)out the liarbors, and though their numbers are fast deereasinj;^ there are still eolonies of them, makinjij their nests of down fr<»m their own breasts, be- neath some overhanj^ing grassy elump, and layinj; from three to five olive-eolored eggs. The people here will rob the nests several sueeessive tijnes during a season, while the temale (con- tinues to lay eggs in the hope of seeuring enough to hatch her l)rood. When setting, the eider duck remains upon her nest Uiitil the very last moment, then takes a foreed rapid flight and does not appear again until the intruder has disappeared. To what extent the males assist the femah s in the matter of incubation I did not succeed in 'earning with any degree of certainty. I do not doubt but that they do so to a limited extent. They remain iipon the coast until the bays are finally frozen, and are then seen no more until Spring returns and the ice thaws once again, when they appear in large flocks in company with the king eider or" king bird " as it is called. The eggs (»f the eider duck are everywhere eaten and are regarded as of vi'ry fine flavor. The females and young birds diflbr greatly in the " heat " of their plumage, .some having nearly or (piite every feather covered with a deep fringe of warm chestnut KING EIDER DUCK Somotevh spec(abi/i». — (L.) BoiE. Callkd als«), by the natives, the " king bird." This is the " passing" duck in distinction from the common eider or "laying" duck. It passes up and down the coast but does n(»t remain to breed, excepting in rare instances. Its occur- rence is thus mentioned in my note : Abundant in S|)ring in large flocks. T shot a great many of them. It is said to breed in this region occasionally. In the C'ouadidn Sportn- >■ .fi Tiinl-Lif^' ill Ldhrador. 77 man mid iVa/Hm//W, of July l-'), 1H81, in an article cntitkHl " IViril-ncHting in Labrador," Mr. Napoleon A. Conuau, a jren- tlcman juTsonally known to the writer, says of a small island opposite Mingan, which was covered with nests of the com- mon eider: "Here we first found the nest of its congener, the king eider {S. apect iuiHh).'^ This is, I believe, the first record of this rare nest found on the Atlantic. We found the birds abundant in migrations and in immense flocks both in the Spring and in the Fall. 1 understood from the natives that the males and females fly in separate flocks, th(> latter ap- })earing a week or ten days later than the former. Their hab- its appeared to be cpn'te similar to those of the common cider, especially in the Spring ; but this may be from the fact that both, flocks appear so simultaneously u])on the coast that we were unable to distinguish the species. There are doubtless many points of difference as well as of semblance between the species, but we must wait until we know both better before parti(;ularizing. ■^m ■i:i'i PACIFIC EIDER — Somntcria v-nUfra — I AM well aware that I censured highly by onithologiKts for including this species at all in my list of Labrador birds, yet I fully believe in its occurrence in all North Atlantic. Why may not this species visit the Labrador coast as well as so numy others that are not really North Atlantic species ? The curlew is really not a North Atlantic bird, yet it is regarded generally as one of the if not the characteristic bird of Labrador. Of this species my notes say : Abundant in large flocks in Spring. I obtained specimens that had the decided " V-shaped black mark," on the chin, and was told by the natives that there were " three ditferent species of Spring ducks so near alike that you could hardly tell the diflercnce." The occurrence of this species has been doubted by several authorities. I still believe that specimens will be eventually secured that will prove it unquestionably. ■ fri "■■: riiii 7H Bird- Life in Lahrador. [ 1- ■ 'i i i AMERICAN BLACK SCOTER (Etivmia americami. — (Wilh.) S\v. TiiiH and the two suct'ccdin^ spccios arc abundanl every- where alonjij tlje eoast of Labrador. There are many j)oint.s of .similarity in habits of all three with those of the eomnioii eider duck, especially in regard to their feeding habits. These ducks assemble in large flocks, over some low shoal, just oif land, to feed. They usually remain at some distance from land, but are easily decoyed by the voice. The gunner must remain perfectly still, as they notice the least movement and are oflF at once. The present species is said to br<'ed abundantly in the inland ponds and lakes, as it no doubt does. I obtained specimens of all three species. WHITE-WINGED COOT SCOTER VELVET DUCK (JUdemia fnttpa. — (L.) Sw. Common in Spring and P'all. I did not find it in the breeding season and do not know as it breeds. Several au- thorities give it as breeding, and it doubtless does in limited numbers though much less so than the preceding species. I do not recollect an autiiority that f(»uud its eggs in Labrador, though the young birds are frequently obtained. The Spring and Fall migrants are often found in large flocks, and I have seen them alight upon some isolated rock, some distance from land in the water, and blacken its entire apparent surface. They are very difficult to approach and quick at diving; hard to kill and not especially good eating. They are decoyed from shore by the voice and shot like other sea ducks. It is known by the name of" brass-winged diver." SURF DUKE SEA COOT (Udemin penipicillaia. — (li.) Stkph. Nearly the same remarks which apply to the other two ilif >T Jilrfl-Lifc in Lahrfidor. 79 .spceios apply to this one also, and tliis and tlio last if not all three, associate more or less together. Of its breeding habits I am unacpiaintecl, l)Ut believe them to be much like those of the last species, both being different in many respe(!ts prob- al)ly from those of mmrlcuiut. It seem to resort more to the months of bays, not going out to sea so mueh as fnxca. The first sj)eeimen I received was from the Indians. It is known by the name r the " bottle-nosed diver." October 20, at Old Fort Bay, I obtained a male of an Indi* m who shot it in the l)ay and saw its mate. It is the rarest t the three species and more common in Spring than in Fall. MERGANSER GOOSANDER FISH DUCK Men/UH merynnHCt'. — (L.) I .SAW a single specimen of this species while on the coast. Doubtless it occurs rarely, though it is by no means as cou)- mon as the snccee«ling species. RED-BREASTED MERGANSER MerguH Herrutor. — (7^.) Common in Spring and Fall. Breeds occasionally if not in localities even abundantly. It is here called the " shell- bird." It feeds in the fresh water ponds principally, -iioisgh I am informed, and I think I have also noticed, that it fre- «|uents also the .salt water shoals. They are by no means wild birds and are approached with comparative ea ie. These I .saw flew low and rather slowly. One hunter had recently found a nest with eighteen eggs in it, all good ; he reported Huding nearly that number on several other occasions. I have taken male, female, and young birds often and find them an easy bird to shoot and fine eating. They are easily de- coyed. The usual number of eggs is eight to ten, .sometimes twelve. The males a.ssemblc in flocks by them.sclves while the females incubate. They are fine swimmers and dive read- ^Ki mtk '■'-'I.', 80 Bird- Life in Labrmhr. ily and quickly, though thoy are best and most easily shot while on the wing. The hunter will readily tell a flock of " shell birds" from those of* any other sjKicies at an immense distance. i^;- ill HOODED MERGANSER Mergnn cucitUatus. — (Z.) Rare, but specimens are occasionally secured in localities along the coast. COMMON GAXNET SOLAN GOOSE Sula bassana. — (L. ) Common in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and on the " bird rocks," where they breed in immense numbers. Occasionally a stray specimen is seen on the Labrador coast, where we en- countered it a number of times; but it is a rare !)ird there. COMMON CORMORANT SHAG Pha/act'ocorax vnrbo. — (L.) Lea<'H. Tup: Shag Rocks, off the St. Mary Islands, are the great abiding place of this and the succeeding species on the ooast of Labrador. Both are found here in equal abundance to all appearances, and both are called equally the " shag " My notes on these two species are as follows : Tuesday, May 24: At eight o'clock we were just off the St. Mary Islands, having gone about eighty miles in twelve hours, and, counting the curvature of the coast, a full hundred and sixty in the last twenty- four; and yet on we go! We pass Shag Rocks, a long row of bare rocks, without vegetation of any kind, where the cormorants or shags breed in large numbers upon the ledges of bare rock ; they use their own guano deposits for a nest. "There are two species of r>)rmorants here; the common cornjorant (carbo), and the double-crested cormorant {'.s. — (Sw.) Xl'TT. Tins species is so associated with the last that it would re- (|uire a much closer investigation than any which I had the time or opportunity to give to separate the habits of the two. Th<)Ugh both species seem to be equally abundant, this latter is doubtless the rarer. POMARIXE JAEGER Stercorarius poinatorhinus. — (Tkm.m.) Lawh. Ah is usually the case, the birds which we are the most eager to learn about are those of which we can obtain the least in- formation. All of these jaeger gulls doubtless occur off the coast of Labrador, and this species has been several times de- tected by gunners and other persons visiting the coast. I found I y*^'. i 82 lih'd-Lije in Labrador, 5Y ' k:t-.' it ' '• 4 PW it ■ i ;i! it near the mouth of P].ecies occurs along the coast also. J obtained it in the St. Lawrence River, and am sure that it also abounds along the coast farther down toward the Straits. In flight it is easily distinguished by the length of its tail feathers. All three of these species are probably cipmily common. BUFFOX'S ARCTIC or LOXG-TAILED JAEGER StcrcGrarlm hiijf'mii. — (JioiK.) Coi'ES. OxK or two specimens alone are reporte«l. If any of the three be rarer than the others this one is doubtless the rarest. Its feathers arc very long and slender ; its flight very power- ful and swift. GLAUCOUS BURGOMASTER ICE GULL Larm 'jl'uu'.m. — Hituxx. This large and handsome gull does not appear to be as comin )i) in this its southern teruuuus of its northern home as might at first have been expected. Without doubt it occurs oc(!asionally all along the coast, but it does not apjteai' to be; at ai>y time (;ommon. We ol tained one of these immense snow-white fellows on November o, at Old Fcu't liny. It was sailing al)out high in the air, and occasionally descend- ing close to the water to watch for food. It was called by the luitives the " white Winter gull." There was only the faintest trace of a darker color on the tips of some of the feathers. The eye was a yellowish white; bill white with a puri»h' tinge, horn Cdlor at base. Legs and feet almost white; Mirs I'OO- liii'd-Llfc in Lahrador. 83 claws horn color to dusky. Shafts of quills of a most beauti- ful straw color. The i)ir(l showed uiuisi'al sijrns of taineiu'ss for one so naturally wild ; it was probably loducod from hun- trer. Its graceful sailing with an occasional dt)wnward swoop were most beautiful displays of its immense wing power. The length ot the one we captured was twenty-nine inches, its extent nearly sixtv-four inches, the wint; itself from its tiexure being nearly twenty inches. GREAT BLACK-SACKED GULL Laran imiriiKin. — (L.) This is the "great baUl eagle" of Labrador and the gull tfibe, and a veritable rascal he is. The largest of the gulls and but little itiferior in dimensions to the eagle itself, ho sails high in the air and tyrannizes over all that are beneath !iim. So high does he sail that even extra large wired cart- ridges fail to reach !\ini ; or, if they reach, he laughs with a shrill laughter at the leaden rain that patters, harmlessly, iigainst or through his plumage. A swoop, and ho has sailed unhurt away from the very muzzle of your gun before you have had even a chance to cover him; as knowing as a crow, ho is often within shot yet you can rarely ever shoot him. Labrador is the home of this snowy, black-backed king of l)irds. Here he breeds in all the liarniless security of low islands, in nests scraped together from the topmost knoll of his island homo, and often a few feet only from the very water's edge. The nest and eggs are very diHicult to distinguish frt»m tiiose of the herring gull, which also breeds in abundance with this spcciies, the two nests being often almost side by side. The eggs are usually given by authorities as l)eing only three, but I am positive that I have found four a number of times. They resen.ble those oC tl'.e herring gull both in size and shape. While wo are oxaiuining the nest and eggs in their ex- posed situation, often upon the abnost bare rock, the owner is soaring in majestic beauty way, way up in the heavens far above i,.i 1 1 f M Hi! ■;.4 ;i :,\\ ■- iMMM I? h 84 Jlird-Lifc ill Labrador. > . i; ' ;i: I I I ! :;;■ our heads, silently \vatcliin<>; the throatcncd destruction of his or hor treasure. Sometimes he utters a harsh and malicious aw-au:k, av-awk ! as he seems to anticipate the destruction and to throw a malediction upon the destroyer. Sometimes this malicious laugh is turned into an impish chuckle of liairc- liavc-liairc ! Iiairc-hdirc-liawe ! han'c-hdirc-hau'c-hairc ! as lie flies swiftly out of sight or remains upon motoiiless j)inion watching his tornu'utor. I have often noticed \\ -ound like that made by many of our hawks, seemingiy procicding from this s])ecies, when sailing high up in the air, sounding like a shrill hcc witii a much lower air, as kce-air bi-air. I am sure that 1 have seen them on the coast in large muiihers the last of August and thought they seemed much wiidcr than more early in the season, perhaps from the fact tluu they were probably preparing to leuve en masse on their trip southward. The hunters shoot iii' bi.'d in characteristics manner. They thoroughly conceal trv u) • Ives amoiiii; the hijirh clilTs of some jutting crag near the sea, and with gun ready fire the moment one appears overhead. They aim to break the wing l)onc as this crij)ples the bird, and if not securing liim then renders a second shot effective at short rantje. Manv an old as well as young bird have I seen tumble from an almost incredible height by this process. Hy and by the birds become wary of the locality, then the hunter ch.anges his position. When at sea in a boat or schooner, they are often tolled near to in cloudy weather or just at dusk by throwing offal overboard, especially pieces of cod liver; the birds are attracted by its sight and smell and venture within shot for tiie sake of the io them pdatable prize. The great black-backed gull is a characioristic bird of Labrador. On every clear day hundreds of tl'.em may be seen, like so many sentinels, sitting U|)on every peak or solitary water-bound rock, sunning themselves while yet alert to everything around thei;i. JJut one must see them in all the grandeur of their native home to fully realize their attractions. I have often dreamed of being wafted about in vast colonies of these snowy creatures, sporting for a mo- ■I ]>ir(l-Lif< ill Ldhrador. 85 iiu'iit ill the atiuosplu'iT of'a real vv(»rl«l <»f r«K•k^, crags, and water, to 1)0 the next ninmciit fiitlin;; tliiii)/ into < t inc aiui notliingiioss, to a d ream- wo rid pun', whU*- I was jurt uviukc'n- iiijjj — to tlic realities of tlie prixi'iu COMMON EZaRING (TDTL This is the uiost al.iiiMhint 'tf tiR' giill.'^ i«fin«w ^n** fjahrador foast, and seeiiH' to \w ev«rt-wlM're eonina«'!5. [ hjivc fiixiiof] tiiein living; in e(doniesanird Rocks we made Xfeeattina Island*; fip»m h^-*-* we -Uirted along the coast, inside ot'tiie smaller \Ait»d^.''< S Augustine; everywhere the gulls flew about and afinmwc us like j)ut!s of white, fleecy clomls. Every resting plan^ •Mt<"i*p<' covered with them and, in one loculiry. we passer! thnmif^a, narrow inlet and ascended a small rig oj' their wings, ainl the l)irds themselves as they flew heri- and there seeking security from their unwonted intruder TW hirds wore hard to shoot tor, although there were so i.tMiy, they flew so high tha'. our shot would scarce reach them ; vet we secured a few of the many thousands seen. The herrinr gnlls seem to breed in colonio much lik<' the aiiks and pufiins, at least we found them so. They are doubtless scattered all along the coast, in <'olonies of from ten to a .thousand. I did not And them on the coast in Winter, and judge that th'v (><'gin their soutlnvard migration about the first week in Se[)tembor or thereabouts. Their nests are built usually on the bare rocks of the low i»<- lands or clifls everywhere ahng the coast. Thev make ijUUe a nest of bits of moss, dried grasses, and like nuiterial, a[>par- intly scraped together fruin ju.>l aiy/«Jll(l Uio locality whore ^ ■ 86 Bird-Life in Labrador. the nost is situatod. The eggs are uf-ually throe, tliough I am confident tliat I found four on tiioio occasions than one. These gulls aj)j)ear to have no special time for depositing their eggs, excepting, of course, keeping within the usual limits of the breeding season to this locality. Wo found fresh eggs and young birds in nests closely situated to each other. Young birds appeared early in the season and fresh eggs late in the season. I do not remember to have found, as I have among the bank swallows, itistances of perfectly fresh eggs and young birds in the same nests, but the case was almost as bad froni a scientific stau.^point at least. With the young birds of all the larger species of gidls, the sailors make great j)et8. Tiicy rear them and the birds become quite tame and know their owners, at least sufficiently to come when they are called to be fed, ami t(. be wary when called at any other time or by nn^' other person. The young birds grow well in confine- ment, and feed greedily upon small fish and scraps of refuse fish .md other artic ies of food. At nearly all times of the day and in all weathers these birds, with others of the same family, hover about the waters in large numbers looking for fv)d or sail j)laeidiy about the waters of the bays or o])en sea, n.-ar the islands, sometinies in fiocks of many lumdreds. They are either very tame or very wild. I hav(! noticed that the Mildest of them will bo enticed within gunshot by the prospect of food or pieces of garbage thrown overboard for this purpose iV/m the vessel's galley. Hundreds of them hung, about oiu' vessel's stern, es|)ecialb' at dusk, both while anch- ored in some ] Is^asant and quiet harbor and whUv on excur- sions up or down the coast. When fishing they pounce di- rectly u{)on their prey, which they grasp with both feet. 1 have repeatedly seen specimens of either this or the great i)lack-backed gull, j)erhaps both, pounce upon and grapple a fish too large for them to secure, and have watched the fight with great interest. Usually the gull siurceeds in securing its victim. I am told lliat occasionally they fasten uj)on a large salmon from which they cannot break loose, and that both Bird- Life in Ltihrtulor. HI are eventually dragged nndor the water and either one or Isoth overcome and drowned. These (and other gulls) are generally most abundant at low tide, when they collect in large bodies and rest upon the rocks or swim in the waters just ott' shore. They are dreaded by the ducik luinters, as they are alarmed at the slightest appearance of danger, and frighten oft' every par- ticle of game by their cries and wariness. Though at times and in some j)laces they are (piite tame they are more often wilder than the wihiest hawks. They are hunted in the siuae way as are the former specues. KITTIWAKE GULL Ui.'^Kd fi'iparently common in the farthest northern local- ity we visited. It is a handsome little fellow, and its grace- ful and well-sustained beating flight made it a great favorite with those on shi|>board. We often ])racticc(l firing at them, and their tameness and apparently unsuspecting and confiding nature almost shamed us for the wanton destruction not wan- ton, for we preserved as many as them as we could secure in good condition. Off the Fox and Alecattine islands, oft' Natashquan and other neighboring places, wo often found this gull in flocks of say from five hundred to a thousand. a ■i: I ,s.s Uinl-Llfv ill Lahrtiilor, Tlioy wore very tnni''. A short clause from my notivs reads : To-day wo all put (IT Xahisipp!. Wo spout tlio time lyinjj; to al)oiit a mllo ott' shore and shootiujj at the jjidls, of which larji;e numhors surrounded us. It was the species known as JJonaparte's jjull, which abounds ahont the shoal waters and Hshing jirounds evorywhoro along this part of the coast. I cannot find any record of its hrecdini;' in Labrador, th(»njjfh it doidttles" does breed here. y. ARCTIC TERN Sk'i'iia iiKtcritra. — X.\r.\r. I sii'i'OSK both this species and the next to come under (he f^enoral nanu- of" stcerines," j>;ivcn them by the native fisher- nien. Tlicy appear common alontr the coast, at least from Ks(|uiniau.\ Kiver and Miuf^an, where 1 saw vast tlocks of them flying swiCtly, apparently on their southern Fall migra- tion. They do not seem to remain to breed. ■J ; r, '•. ; 1, i ' COMMON or WILSON S TERN Sti'ina /ii/Hii(l(). — And. — Onk or two specimens of tiiis species have been secured in Lal)rahore. It is always a hard i)ird t(» ' its divinaiii, lironuht me birds (and I often saw tiiein shot at a single disehariic of tlie nun) which they declared were so hilled. I, with others, have chased these birds for hours toj^etiier, in a boat about the harl)ors and bays, slio(»tiii;i' a*^ them as they en)er«i:(cr positively of seeing any of them. :i.:4i :i i? RED THROATED DIVER Co/iliiihiiK fiCjttinirioiKtliH, — L. — Tuts species doul)tless occurs, though tlic next, although a very rare bird, is often found in this region. ()ne of the jiriests from Bersai.is informed me that he knew (d' several captures of the latter. BLACK THROATED DIVER Co/i/iiihii.s (irciiriix. — L. — Si:vKl{Ai. well-authenticated instances of the capture of r>'h(l-l/ifi III Liihrmlnr. 91 lliis s|)ccr.-.aiiiis tlicrc arc scvi rnl spcciinciis liikcii tVuiii llicsc waters, one liavin<; Ix'cii taken llic .siiiic year I was tlicrc (ISSO). Tlic same parties left with me the im- prosioii that tlicri' wei'c also cjius ol' this liir«i in the same |»lace, thiiiiir<1~Lifc in Lahmdor. 95 flow fVi)in tliciu to join the dense black rinj; tliat wonnrl around and around the ishmd. Their burrows extended far into the h)aiuy earth of which the island was composed, notwithstand- inj:; the ienpediments in the siiape of rocks everywhere, above and belo^v the ground. 1 doubt if man or animal couhl have picked its way across this -island without stepping upon or breaking the earth's crust into one of these htdes. They are made by liie bird itself, aided by its strong bill and sharp and powerfid claws. They are about the si/e of the body of the bird or a little larger, and generally from two to three feet deep. They wind and bend and ofttri intermingle, mucrh as in the case of the well-known bank swallow. At the extrem- ity is a very little dried grass and a single white egg, with sel- d<»m any other nuirks excepting perhaps a few obsolete scrawls or spots, and a general bluish or brownish tint often replacing the oth rks which ne otherwise white sliell. My notes add a tew remarks which may be of interest : A great trick of the Labradorians is to get a greenhorn to stick his liand into one of the burrows of this bird when the bird is supposed to be within. If you ex- amine carefully the bill — of horn, nearly two inches in length and alxuit the same in height — you will see that a most alarm- ing pair of forceps may be thus ])ut into motion, and, as the bird is one of the fiercest of its kind, can readily imagine why the victim never repeats the experiment. The number of birds that I saw on Grecnley Island was simply immense, and o<)uld never have been counted. I have often seen the water i'overed with a clustered flock, all engaged in making the hoarse, rasping sound that has been mentioned before and is not unlike the filing of a saw, that is made by both the auks, and which gives all alike the name of " gudds." When on the wing I seldom if ever saw them mix with other birds. Though they appear in large numbers at stated times, they disappear or rather disperse after breeding almost as suddenly .ns they (iame ; yet stragglers do not leave until the harbors are nearly or (piite blocked up with ice. At Greenley Island, although there is a large fish-canning establishment, houses. I •■ l|.| h, I rn 96 Bird-Life in Labrador. and a lighthouse on the northeast end, these birds occupy the other side unmolested and are seldom interfered with by gun- ners ; yet the island is scarcely three-quarters of a mile long and even less than half a mile wide. The flight of the puffin is swift as an arrow. It has no notes that 1 could perceive. AVhen in the water it is obliged to rush over the surface some feet, flapping its wings and apparently paddling vigorously be- fore it can gain sufficient impetus to take flight. AV^hen sitting sentinel-like on some rock, previous to taking a downward plunge into the air to wing, it reminds one greatly of pictures of auks and penguins, which birds they greatly resemble in many respects. We found the breasts of this bird when made into a soup and boiled thoroughly not bad eating, though much tougher than were the auks we tried. SEA DOVE Alle nigricans. — Link. This little fellow is very common some years in the waters about the islands and harbors all along the Labrador coast. My notes say : From October 15, until the ice sets in, I found them common everywhere in the waters of the bays and har- bors, and they are generally quite tame. The people on the coast regard their arrival as a sign of cold weather ; but it certainly did not prove to be the case this year, since the birds were unusually abundant and the Winter an unusually mild one. The popular and local name is pronounced as if spelled " bun-num." The birds associate with the black guillemot and possesses with it many habits in common. It dives at the flash of the gun, swims long distances under water, but is gen- erally very tame and quite easy lo approach, though (juick in its movements. I have seen them killed with an oar, after a long chase in a boat. When first taking flight they half fly and half ))ush themselves along the surface of the water, since their snjall wings and unequally balanced bodies make it ex- tremely difficult for them to fly freely. I have seen one pur- Itinl-ljifc ill Ijiihi'(((Jni-. i»7 sued in n hunt hy a iniinl)er of men, who aniiiwcd tlu'insdvos l)y throwiiijr the oars and pieces <»t' wood, toiretiier witli tlie l)allast of the boat, at it, and yet not a single niissih' hit its mark since the bird was able to dodge each article thrown at it by diving and appearing in a most nncxpected direction ; the bird was scarcely a dozen vards awav, set it escaped nn- harmed. I have noticed nearly all the changes of plumage in this birad, scattered irregularly all over its body ; the bill is black- ish carmine ; the legs and feet dusky carmine ; the wings with a pure white patch as usual. I think the white tail feathers were present, but am not sure on this point. T cannot learn if I !tS llird-lJJv ill Ldhiiidor. the Fiill ofth this pliimaj;'' appcjirs at any otlicr time tlian in the I'all ot the year ;in this dress tlic birds are rare liere, and ajjparently pass its staj^es in sonie wihl phiee, or rea;ion where they are not easily dcteeted. Tlie hnnters about the coast toM me that tliese spotted l)ir(ls were very rare. In the early Fall the pi<>;eon is <|iiite tanii , but grows wildi'r as the e<»ld weather advances. When |)ursiiinji: them with a boat they arc at times easy to ap- j)roach, while others most ditKcult, and they are often very wil(( without any ap|)arent nason. The pijicon will usually •live " at the Hash " ; but often, especially when feedinjr, it allows you to approach (piito near to it. In fcedinji- the bird bends its n<'clv forward and dips its beak into the water ; at this time, when the head is turned forward and a little away from the hunter the latter is generally sure of securing his game. Sometimes the ])igeon takes wing nearly as soon as it ])erceives a boat approaching, and it is then imj)ossible to get within shooting distance of it ; its Hight is at such times rapid but easy, generally low and in a straight line. When tame they usually es(!ape by diving rather than l)y Hight and by swimnung long distances under the water; they do this easily and in any direction they may choose. When wounih'd they often dive, as do many of tlic duck family, swim or siidv to the bottom, and, clinging to the seaweed, die there. I have olten watched them dive at such times and never return. On still, warm days they stay near the land feeding, often in large numbers. In large flocks specimens showing a greater or less degree of albinism may be fre(|uently taken or fH''\\. When flying low over the water a long distaiK^e away, if tired at and not hit, I have seen them drop suddenly to the water and dive, thus escaping the hunter who does not know, at so greatja distance, in what direction to watch for their reap|)ear- ing. The flesh, especially of the young bird, is excellent eat- ing, and for this reason they are shot in great numbers; they are regarded as the hardest bird to kill, next to the loons, that dwell here. The pigeon breeds in large mnnbers on several of the small islands along'the coast. On one island a cohtnv of if lie iss 'y is 'S. )- i-y y it liiiil-Lij'i i;. Ldhniilor. })}) tlicsc l)inls hrccd exclusively. They l;iy usually three ey^s in home exposed situation, or in the cleft of some rock, makiiircater share ol' the hatchinir ; tluy are oMonjf and ovoid in shape, tapering snd- of tlu' egg, arc of l)la<'k or various shades i;i'<)l!K reading the present remarks upon this species one should compare the notes as given upon its congener tlic razor- billed auk. The ogg is noted for its variable si/e and the nature of its markings. 1 have taken them all the way from ]>urc white, thongh an endless seri<'s of blotches, and waved lines of black, purple, and brown, to almost pure green and <'ven a delicate pink barely spotted or msirkcd at the larger end. The peo])le on the coast cannot tell whether either the turre or murre lays more than a single egg, or whether they sit upon tlu'ir eggs or allow the sun to hatch them. I have been told, on aj)parently good authority, that they do sit M|)on their eggs, and conscMiently are furnished with a large, bare pla<'c upon the lower l)clly, where they have picked the feathers from themselves in order to make the proper hollow in their downy covering for the egg to rest in ; but f failed to notice the spot upon any of the birds shot. 1 could not ascer- tain, either, the period of incubation. While laying to, one morning, (ttf the Fox Islsi. ids, near the ISfecattina Islands, sev- eral of us landed and filled our pails with murres' eggs, while ii J 100 J)i I'd- Life III Liihi'iiiJiir. Avith our guns we shot noarly ii liuiulrod of the birds in little less than an hour; and yet we left them flyinji as thicrkly over and by the island as when we had lirst landed. We boiled some of the eggs and found them exeellent eating. They are not quite as rieh in flav()rasthe hens' eggs, butcertaiidy equal to them for eating purposes, especially t<) hungry men. THICK-BILLED or BRUNXICH S GUILLEMOT Jjoimia arm. — (Pall.) Corns. This bird doubtless occurs in abundance with the other species, l)ut we did not, ai the tinu', discriminate between them. The species was so indefinitely mentioned by our orni- thologists generally that we had not looked for it. hi I' ' III If ■ M liiril-Lifc ill Liihniilnr. APPF.NDIX. Arnrnox visited Lnbrndor in tin- Smimu'r of WV.\. with lis youinjcst soil tiiid ('our foinpnnioiis wliosc ninm-s hnvc hccn linndcri down to us us Thoiniis l^incoin, Wiliiiini Innnlls, (Ji-orjif Slmttiiik, and Joscjdi Coolidjjc Tlip scdu)on('r lliploy wiis elmrtcred in lioKton, and tlie party sailed from Kastport, Mc, on June (1. Tiic t-oiMsc wliicli tlicy ptirsned the writer fol- lowed in 1H75 and ajiain in 1HS2, and from Audubon's journal aecounts must have had nearly tlie same experiences from fotr, wind, and weather In one of the hnrliors Audnhon met Cai)tain Hnytield, then lu'osecntinjr his survey- of the Canadian eoast. This was, 1 Ixdieve, at Natashquan. Kven the (iront naturalist can become facetious upon occasions, as the followinji remark will show ; " 'i'he seals are carriecl home on sledjies drawn l)y Ks- (|uimaux dojis," he says, "which are so well trained that, on reachinjj home, they push the seals from the sledj^es with their noses and return to th»( kil lers with rciiulnr dispatch." He adds, however, " This, reader, is hear- say!" .Inly 215, he visited the sealing! establishment of Mr. Robertson. July 2(1, he came opposite Bonne Ksperance, but, as the j»ilot did not know the harbor and it was .stioii as to the exact locality), i»i;:con hawk ( "the ejijis in three iii'tanceH, which occurred at l.alirador, were live" ), niar.sli hawk ( "saw it. in I,.al)rar pi>?eon (one, Dr(x.); )ir<'aJ blue heron (one, McK.); American bittern (breedin|ic, Virumin mil ( "one, ilaniiltiiii liilcf " ), coot ( " niH', Nain" 1, whistliiij: swan O rohnii hiitiKi ( " occusiDiial " ), jircatt-r snow ^oosc ( " (ici'asidiial " ), tii'ccii-winjjcd tt-al, Harrow's >iold('n-c.v<', Amt'ficaii (.'(ddcii-cyc, Saliiiu-'s u'lH ("om-" ). Arctic tciii, UichanlHon's jii'jji-r, I'lilmar ( 'aliuiidaiit (Voia ("liidlcy to Htdlc Isle" ), stormy petrel ( "two " ), Wilson's and Lcacli's jiclrtd ( 'Atlantic, lialtrador " ), rcd-tliroatcd diver also loon (not rare), [ra/,or-liille(l auk eoinnion pnllin, and common tiiiillemot, not observed in Hudson's Straits] nea dove, lilack vcuillemot. Mandt's achint; true Labrador north of lilanc Sublon, "a sin);le individ- ual," he says, thoujjh does not nive the locality; of Wilsoti's snipe (" a sinjjle individual ' ), butf'-breasted sandpiiier( 'a sin>jle individual" ), rinjf- l)illed )jull {" three youn>:-of-the-yenr at Henley Harbor"), sooty shear- water ( "few" ). Dr. Coues's record o( the pine-cr(!epin)r warbler in Lab- rador, as appnarinj: in the " Proceedinjrw of the Academy of Natural Sci- ♦Mice, of Philadfdphia," p. 220, in denied in the " Hinla of the Northwest," in the followinjt words, (p. (i!)): "The quotation 'Labrador' ori|;inated in nn error of mine some yenrs since. The specimen was younjj of slnattt." Labrador oujfht to jjive us further knowledtte of Vepplmit tnnndtii, which Stejuejjer ( " Proceediiijis of the U. S. Nat. Mus." vol. 7, p. 21fi) says to " bree£ood species," and that the " National Museum j)ossesses adult birds in breedinjj plumage from St. (Jeorjre, Hudson'.s Bay, collectiKl by Mr. Drexler." Mr. Turner says of it : "Occurs in Hudson .Straits occasionally only, nccordinjc to my own oi)servation, plentiful on the Eastern coast of Labrador." Also of the curious form of U. carbo. Kumlein, in "The Natural History of Arctic America," p. 105, says: "1 have seen three entirely black specimens, of which 1 considcjred to be U. carbo. One was obtained in Cumberland. " Mr. Kidfieway describes a new varietj- of jay [referred to abovi^] in the " Proceedinjjs of the U. S. Nat. Mus.'' vol. T). p. 15. as " I'/'Hson-Hx Cdiiaflcnsi.i ititiriritpilliix." Labra- r;j ! rtird-Lifi' in Labrador. m hor, Ajiril 2, 18H0; " Si'',;u"i(ltM; " p.esentt'tl l).v Or. L. Stcjiicjior. Mr. Turn 'r ri'cordK this as " ccastwi^c and interior especially abundant. Resi- dent and breeds at Fort riiinio." I should like to know more of Brunnich's jiuilleniot in Labrador ; also of the so-called " blue jjulls'ofthe inhabitants, who talk of the " fresh- water blue tiull " and of the " salt-water blue jiull" of which 1 " never took a speoi'nen, " accordinjt to the local hunters there, — could they have been IciwopteniH and delmvarensis f possibly. Another point, I believe that the Kreat black-backed gull and the herrinn jfull lay, respectively, three anil four egjis almost if not quite invariably. In Mr. Edward A. Samuel's " Ornitholojiy and Ooloj^y of New Knjjland," Mr. William Cooper, of Que- bec, is credited with : roujjh-letijied h.iwk ("breeds in Labrador"), hawk owl ("breeds in the northern portions of Hudson Hay and Labrador ' ), white-winjied crossbill ("breeds";, northern phalarope /'. hi/pcrhoieun ( "common" ), and rinif-billed jiull />. delawnrentiiii ("hrecdH" ). In an- other place he aftirm.s Audubon's' statement relative to tht; Blackburnian warbler, tlin.s : " I saw numbers of tfiis species in the woods of Labrador on the seventeenth of June, but could not discover the nest." From the above references it will be seen at a ylance that it is hijihly proV)able that a further car<>ful research into the bird fiuina of Labrador will reveal many treasure.-, and raritic^s hitherto unlooked for in so arctic a climate. As a rule birds are found where Summer is. While, then, the warmth of Summer o'ersproads, even for a sliort time, the otherwise frijtiil climate of arctic North America, of Labrador, at least, birds swarm as in more favored rejjions. You wil' see that I have bounded Labrador by the bird f:iuna of the land north and west, and of the water east and south. The interior of the peninsula remains yet to be explored. In these dnys it is as much as one's life is worth to jjive a bird a scientific (Latin) miinc, and though I have given, generally, only the Knglish names of the species here they will hardly be misundi.itood I think. Mr. |R<«si- Bird-Life in Labrador. also rrosli- fook I been \t tho an(( fuel's I Que- ll a wk "■ ■), ireiiH an- 'iiiaii 'ador ij^m:X' ■^tmr ->-••-*■ -^►■ The Hobiri 9 ( I ray-cheeked Tlirush U Stone Chat 12 Uuby-crowned Kinglet 12 Hudsoiiiaii Chickadee 13 Shore Lark Horned Lark... 15 Yellow-ruinped Warbler 17 Hlack-poll Warbler.... 17 Maryland Yellow-throat 18 iGolden-erowned Thrush Oven Bird 18 Water Thrush 18 American Pipit Titlark 19 (itreen Black-capped; Flj-ca^ching Warbler 22 Pine Grosbeak 23 Red-poll Linnet 24 . Snow Bunting 2 Ruddy Plover Sanderling <50 Hudsonian Godwit fiO Greater Yellow-legs Stone Snipe (il Solitary Sandpiper 62 Spotted Sandpiper (!2 Hudsonian C^,iow Jack Curlew 62 Esquimaux Curlew Dough-bird 62 Bittern Stake Driver 64 Canada Goose 65 Brant Goose 66 Dusky Duck Black Duck 66 Pintail Dnck 67 American Widgeon 68 English Teal 68 Green-winged Teal 68 Summer Duck Wood Duck 68 Red-head Duck Pochard 6!* Barrow's (Jolden-eye 6!) Buffle-hf-ad Rutter-lmll Dipper Duck 6!) 6 ninl-Llfc hi Ldhnnlnr. Long-tiiiled Duck South Sontlit'ily Old Wife Old Squaw... "0 Harlequin Duck 71 Eider Duck "2 Kirifj Eider Duck 7(i Pacific Eider 77 American Black Scoter 7H White-winged Coot Scoter Velvet Duck 78 Surf Duck Sea Coot 7S Merganser (iroosander Fish Duck 7i( Red-breasted Merganser 7i> Hooded Merganser HO Common (iannet Solan fioose 80 Common Cormorant Shag 80 Double-crested Cormorant 81 Pomarine Jaeger 81 Richardson's or Parasitic Jaeger 82 Buffon's Arctic or l.ong-tailed Jaeger 82 Glaucous Gull Burgomaster Ice Gull 82 Great Black-backed Gull 8:{ Common Herring Gull 85 Kittiwake (JuU 87 Bonaparte's Gull 87 Arctic Tern 88 Common or Wilson's Tern 88 Fulmar Fulmar Petrel 88 Leach's Petrel 8!> Greater Shearwater 8!) Sooty Shearwater 8i> liooii Great Northern Diver 8)> Red-throated Diver !)0 Black-throated Diver i»0 American Red-necked Grebe !H Razor-billed Auk Tinker Tune 91 Common Puttin Parrakeet 1)4 Sea Dove DG Black Guillemot Pigeon !I7 Common or Foolish Guillemot Murre !))) Thick-billed or Briinnich's Guillemot 100 Finin.