S^ Bird-Life in Lahrcalor. 



saw others at the same time ; they were flying about mircb 

 like and in company with the savanna sparrows, among the^ 

 low evergreens on the island. They, like many others of the 

 sparrow tribe, crept about so &lyly in and out of the bushes^ 

 now appearing on the top twigs to chant a few feeble notes,. 

 then disappearing and rattling through the closely woven- 

 twigs and branches, or creeping between them, that one could^ 

 scarcely get a n>oment's sight of thenu When wounded their 

 caution wa>s doubled. Thej would wedge themselves into the 

 smallest corners, under leaves, twigs, and roots, into holes of 

 the ground, anywhere to escape observation,, their brown 

 backs,- so near the color of the decaying foliage, and small* 

 size, greatly aiding them. If winged in open ground they 

 would run so swiftly as almost to defy pursuit. Sometimes- 

 the little fellow had a way of appearing suddenly on the top- 

 most twig of some bush and straightening himself out so that 

 he looked as much a part of the twig as the toj) to a mulleiu 

 stalk or the pod of a milkweed. On the North shore, where 

 there were trees of any size, they frequently would alight on 

 some high branch and so ruffle up their feathers as to look al- 

 most as large as a robiu. They were very tame, but chase 

 them through the brush and they would at once become so 

 silent, active, and shy that the longer you followed them the 

 more you became convinced of the uselessness of the attempt; 

 yet return to som-e convenient situation, sit down quietly and 

 wait, and soon twenty would appear where you searched in, 

 vain for one only a moment before. On the sliores of Belle 

 Isle Straits this species is much less common than its next 

 neighbor. 



WHITE CROWNED SPARROW 



ZonotricJtia leucopliriiH. — (FoRST.) Sw, 



Ah the white-throat is one of the characteristic birds of the 

 K'orth shore of the St. Lawrence, so is the white-crowned one 

 of the characteristic birds of Labrador, at least to Belle Isle. 



