24 Bird-Life in Labrador, 



Irom " outside," their Suniiuer " fishino- (luarters/^ the former 

 belntr their Winter (jimrters. It seemed ver}' ,strange to me that, 

 being in tlieir evident home, I found rare, or missed entirely, s*!' 

 many of the usual Winter bii*ds of the United >>tates, T sa^v 

 neither of the cross-bills ; nor the siskin or pine linnet ; nor the 

 goldfinch. I did, erne day, pursue for a (ong distance a bird 

 which I took for a shrike but which might have been only a 

 poor, good-for-nothing whisky jack. No bluebird, though 

 different individuals described to me a bird '* all blue"; no 

 nuthatch ; no waxwing; and but one blackbird, Thus^ though 

 most diligent searcli was made, few characteristic Winter birds 

 were discovered in what ought to have been their j)aradise ; yet 

 many of them doubtless occur. T would not try another Win- 

 ter in those regions for all the birds there twice over. Cold, 

 dreary, uninviting abode of starving humanity, fit only for 

 Indians and outcasts, and poor enough at that ; yet even there 

 may be found warm hearts and cozy homes, in spite of the 

 nightly thirty degrees below. I could at least wish then> better 

 food and more comfortable quarters, 



RED POLL LINNET 



jEgioihua linar'ui. — (L.) C'ab. 



Poon little " alder birds!" They look cold, all huddled 

 up there, twenty or thirty of th^m, in every possible position^ 

 in that clump of alders. They look as if grown to the limbs 

 on which they perch, a part and parcel of the very twigs on 

 which they rest, a sort of alder bud as well as alder bird. 

 Some of them are trying to eat, though they look as if their 

 food made them feel half sick. Others have given up the 

 idea of eating entirely, to all appearances, and are standing 

 with ruflfled-up feathers, their heads drawn far into the down 

 of their breast, feeling much as I imagine the natives feel 

 when, after a poor fishery, they look at a three-months' sup- 

 ply of provisions that they must make last six months of fierce 

 Winter weather. Of a truth they look cold, and their toes 



