1S70.] ItEEKS — ON BIRDS OT NEWFOUNDLAND. 411 



The settlors easily *•' tole" these birds withiu gunshot by secretiug 

 themselves and waving a cap or red handkerchief. So fascinating 

 is the red handkerchief that I have seen the same bird " toled" up 

 within easy range, and shot at two or three times before it was 

 killed; they are such expert divers, that they are far more easily 

 toled than shot on the water. Young birds are sometimes so fat 

 in the fall of the year, that I have seen the fat lining the inside of 

 the skin average half an inch in thickness ! The settlers affirm 

 that there are two species of Loos ; the great northern, which they 

 call the '" spotted loo," and another with the throat white, which is 

 termed the " whitethroated loo." and which is distinguished from 

 the young of C. torquafns in its first years plumage by having the 

 feathers on the back spotted with white instead of '' margined 

 with greyish white.' Certain it is that plenty of such birds are 

 seen every summer, /. e., June and July; and, although the settlers 

 say that they have found nests of the *' whitethroated species (?), 

 I am under the impression that they will prove to be non-breeding 

 birds of C. torquatus in the second year's plumage — a state of 

 which I have seen no description. The fiict, however, of these 

 birds being found at mid-summer white-throated and with the back 

 spotted is worthy of note, because the great northern diver has 

 scarcely commenced laying at that season.^'' 



Redthwatcd Diver, C. Septentrionalis, Linn. — A common 

 summer migrant, breeding generally in some of the smaller ponds 

 in the marshes ; placing its nest on a tussock of grass surrounded 

 by water, 



Podiceps ? A species of grebe was caught in the 



marshes near Cow Head by one of the settlers, and was considered 

 a great curiosity by all who saw it. This occurred a year or two 

 before I got there, and unfortunately no part of the bird was 

 preserved ; it was probably a straggler from the Labrador shore, 

 as none have been taken since, neither could I learn of any pre- 

 vious capture. 



Alcid.e. 



Great Auk; A!c i impennis, Linn. — With this species I arrive 

 at the most interesting of Newfoundland birds — once abundant, 

 but now, alas! T fear extinct, or nearly so. Almost the sole ob- 



* Adult specimens of C. Torquatua had the bill black tipped with 

 horn ; while immature birds had the bill horn coloured, with ridge of 

 upper mandible dlctck. 



