LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN" WILD FOWL 63 



much less evidence on which to elaborate it. We might infer from 

 what Cones (1861) says that the Labrador duck bred farther north 

 and passed through Labrador on its migrations; he says: 



I was informed tiiat tliouich it was rarely seen in summer, it is not an un- 

 common bird in Labrador during the fall. 



William Dutcher (1894) undertook to obtain some further infor- 

 mation regarding the occurrence of the species in Greenland, 

 through Mr. Langdon Gibson, who accompanied the Peary expedi- 

 tion to that region in 1891, acting as ornithologist of the party. Al- 

 though Mr. Gibson made numerous inquiries and showed pictures 

 of the bird to various people along the coast, he could find no evi- 

 dence to indicate that the Labrador duck had ever been seen there. 

 A portion of his report is worth quoting in full : 



In August, 1892 (the latter part, I believe), on our way home we touched 

 at Godthaab, the largest town in Greenland. Here we were entertained by 

 Herr Anderson, the Danish inspector of South Greenland, an accomplished 

 naturalist, and at his house I had the pleasure of inspecting one of the finest 

 collections of Arctic birds I had ever seen. I showed him my little pamphlet 

 on the Labrador duck, and also presented it to him on my departure. He told 

 me that his collection represented 20 years' work, and all the hunters in 

 Soiith Greenland (some 500 men) had instructions to bring to him any 

 strange birds that they might get. In this way he has added to his collection 

 from time to time many rare birds and eggs. In all this time he claims to 

 have heard nothing of the Labrador duck, which I consider is substantial 

 l)roof that within the last 20 years the Labrador duck has not visited Green- 

 land. From Godthaab we came directly home to Philadelphia, and this ended 

 my ineffectual attempts at learning something more definite regarding this 

 species. 



Audubon (1840) did not see a living specimen of this duck in 

 Labrador, where it was supposed to be breeding commonly. It 

 hardly seems likely that he could have overlooked it, if it had been 

 there. Therefore, his brief account of its breeding habits must ])e 

 considered unsatisfactory and unreliable. He says: 



Although no birds of this species occurred to me when I was in Labra<lor. 

 my son, .John Woodhouse, and the young friends who accompanied him on the 

 28th of July, 1833, to Blanc Sablon, found, placed on the top of the low 

 tangled fir bushes, several deserted nests, which from the report of the English 

 clerk of the fishing establishment there, we learned to belong to the pied duck. 

 They had much the appearance of those of the eider duck, being very large, 

 formed externally of fir twigs, internally of dried grass, and lined with down. 

 It would thus seem that the pied duck breeds earlier than most of its tribe. 



Professor Newton (1896) writes: 



This bird, the Anas labradoria of the older ornithologists, was nearly allied 

 to the eider duck, and like that species used to breed on rocky islets, where 

 it was safe from the depredations of foxes and other carnivorous quadrupeds. 

 This safety was, however, unavailing when man began yearly to visit its 

 breeding haunts, and, not content with plundering its nests, mercilessly to 

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