Bird-Life in Labrador. 67 



and is abundant everywhere in ponds, pools, and flooded mea- 

 dow lands. They generally fly in family groups of half a 

 dozen or so, seldom in flocks of any great extent. They are 

 not hard to approach if there be the slightest rock or hillock 

 behind which to conceal the hunter, but in open ground it is 

 impossible to get within shot of them — the usual device prac- 

 ticed with the diving sea ducks being here entirely useless. 

 The islands and mainlands of Labrador are cut up every- 

 where by ponds and pools of water, both large and small. 

 In these the black ducks delight to revel ; you are sure to 

 find them at morning and at evening, and even often in the 

 day. When frightened they immediately take wing and rise 

 high in the air, thus giving the gunner a good opportunity to 

 shoot them while on ^he wing. Their flight is not over swift, 

 though strong. The birds are pretty hard to kill and need 

 rather large shot. They are splendid eating, and hence much 

 prized by the natives as an article of food. They are found 

 in Spring and Fall all along the coast and evidently breed 

 inland during the Summer in large numbers. 



PINTAIL DUCK 



Dafila acuta. — (L.) Je.\. 



We had considerable sport over the manner in which the 

 occurrence of this duck in Labrador was demonstrated. One 

 of the natives, whose prowess in the hunting line was always 

 the sport of the region around, and whose long, old-fashioned, 

 single-barreled relic of a former century seemed as unsports- 

 man-like as its owner, who never went hunting — probably 

 for fear of this same ridicule — one day espied two ducks feed- 

 ing in the shallow, low-tide pools near the house. Hastily 

 loading his gun — for the first time in a year or more — he 

 hurried to a cover and succeeded in bringing in a specimen 

 of the above species — probably to boast of it forever after- 

 ward. The hunters reported it as very rare, and none of 

 them had any name for it, a pretty good sign that it was 



