Bird-Life hi Labrador. ^23 



gentleiiuui ov lady, whichever it might have been, did not seem 

 to L^_v it ('Specially to heart, ibr he or she soon appeared again, 

 and, with ^i nod of recognition, trtated as to some more mnsic. 

 We had a charming acquaintance with this little fellow, brief 

 as it was, for suddenly a tall, lank individual, evidently a huge 

 animal from some Western prairie, arose quite near to us, raised 

 gently a most murderous-looking weapon until it reached quite 

 to his shoulder, when, with a crash like thunder and a Hash 

 like lightning, the little black-cap whirled from his perch to 

 the ground, a bleeding corpse. The community were in arms 

 in an instant, and a volley of indignation resounded from the 

 woods in several directions, while, from the opjiosite side of the 

 river, several distinct j)hcughi< seemed to hint at some direful 

 revenge- We gathered up the corpse tenderly and laid it upon 

 the bow of our boat and slowly continued our downward 

 journey toward the mouth of th.e river. We saw relatives of 

 this little black-cap several times on the coast, first and last, 

 and they always had a great deal to say, when we saw them, 

 about something, though we could not understand their tongue, 

 though it seemed to be a sort of mongrel French, and something 

 about residing and building, if people would only let them alone, 



PINE GROSBEAK 



Pinicola enuclcator. — (L.) Cab. 



The name I heard applied to this bird almost universally 

 wherever I went was that of "spruce bird," probably from 

 the fact of its frequenting so characteristically the spruce 

 growths everywhere in the interior, upon the buds of which it 

 doubtless feeds almost exclusively. I found it the last of 

 November and in December in the wood about Old Fort Bay, 

 singly and in flocks, but wild as larks. Several large flocks 

 were seen a little way up the river, in the interior, where they 

 appear to be much more common. One can usually see plenty 

 of single birds, though very wild, in any ordinary day's 

 hunt, " inside," as the natives call the mainland in distinction 



