182 AMERICAN GAME BIRD SHOOTING 
Labrador coast line flying south, and continue so till 
they reach our large rivers, like the Manicouagan, 
Bersimis and the Saguenay, seldom going west of this 
last. These large rivers are followed up in a west 
and northwesterly direction, the birds scattering inland 
over a tract that includes the Lake St. John and Lake 
Mistassini region, then down to the shores of Hudson’s 
Bay, where Dr. Milne and Mr. Peter McKenzie told 
me they flew north all along the coast line to Ungava, 
then south again to the Labrador, and so on. The 
range of the flight on this side of Hudson’s Bay would 
cover about ten degrees of latitude and in round fig- 
ures form a circle around this big peninsula of about 
two thousand miles. As this immense body of ptarmi- 
gan moves on during a season of abundance, stragglers 
are left behind, which breed, giving another and lesser 
batch to migrate the second year, when fewer strag- 
glers are left, till the third or fourth season, when no 
more are seen for a time. Their total absence varies 
from four to six years. They seldom or never breed 
in the lowlands, always seeming to prefer high and 
bare mountainous sections. In June, 1893, I saw a 
pair several times. They probably had their nest with- 
in a mile of our house (Godbout). The earliest ap- 
pearance of any large migration was October 29, 1872, 
but as a rule it begins here from the 15th of November 
to December. 
“The regular flight along the seashore lasts about 
four to six weeks. After that the birds seem to scatter 
inland and feed. When on the move they fly very 
