70 Bird-Life in Labrador. 



numbers. It seems to prefer the heads and mouths of the hay 

 to the open water between the islands, and one can seldom row 

 any distance along shore without seeing one or more of them. 

 It is a very poor div^er and so falls an easy i)rey to the gunner. 

 The buffle-heads are common all the Fall until the ice sets in, 

 and seem to like the company of the eiders with which they 

 associate perhaps more than with any of the other species. It 

 is quite a family duck, so far as I could judge, keeping in small 

 clusters, and not venturing far from land; it appeared a timid 

 and tame rather than a bold and wild bird. It is common all 

 up and down the Labrador coast, though apparently more so 

 in Summer and Fall than in the Spring. 



LONG TAILED DUCK SOUTH SOUTHERLY 



Old Wife Old Squaw 



Harelda glacialis. — (L.) Leach. 



This is another not uncommon migrant and also probable 

 Summer resident in the bays which extend into the interior, 

 and the mouths of the rivers all along; the coast. It is found 

 in much the same situations as both the preceding and the 

 following species, though occupying a position about midway 

 between them. Even if there were no other means of iden- 

 tifying this as a breeder in Labrador I could so state the fact 

 from an egg, labeled (and identified beyond question as of 

 this bird), from the Straits of Belle Isle. This egg was one 

 of the original collection handed down to me. This and a 

 ptarmigan's egg were preserved long after the others were 

 ruined by time's relentless hand. Upon this and other 

 evidence since procured I can assert, quite positively, that 

 the old squaw breeds in Labrador ; without doubt quite 

 commonly. It is called by the natives by the peculiar name 

 of coc-caw-wee," and pronounced with an inflection which 

 is almost precisely that with which one pronoun<tes the well- 

 known whip-poor-will in the States. The sound is made by 

 the males. This is the Labrador name for these birds ; an- 



