TowNsKND, Some more Labrador Notes. [, 



Auk 



Ian. 



for believing that the high land which we visited where it ap- 

 proached the coasl ;u Mingan \\;is antic in appearance only, and 

 thai it had been deforested by fire. 



The valley of the Natashquan river as far as I went was densely 

 forested with black spruce and balsam fir. White spruces and 

 white birches were not uncommon while a few mountain ashes. 



larches, and aspens were also seen, and alders and low willows oc- 

 curred in plaees on the river's edge. The forest trees were from SO 

 to 60 feet high but rarely attained a diameter of more than a foot. 

 An exceptional white birch was 72 inches in circumference and a 

 balsam fir, t> I inches. Their growth was very slow; for example, 

 a balsam fir, which we cut for bedding, was 7;j inches in diameter, 

 IS feet tall and showed L82 rings. 



The river is over a mile wide at its month and Bows between 

 low sand banks for twelve miles. Above this rapids and falls 

 abound in the granitic rock, and the surrounding hills increase in 

 size as one ascends. Glacial gouges and scratches are everywhere 



plain; their average direction is south L2° east, in relation to 

 tine north. Marine cliffs o( sand and clay over one hundred and 

 fifty feet high are cut by the river some seventy-live miles from the 

 sea. The whole region has undergone recent elevation by tilting 

 following a previous submersion. At our farthest point inland 

 many of the hills. 800 feet or more above the river, were wooded. 



while others were nearly destitute of trees. As at Mingan 1 found 



the charred stumps of trees on the high land showing that it was 

 formerly forested. 



Very few birds were seen along the coast pitiful remnants of 

 the great hosts that formerly bred there, l.oons were common, 

 Red-throated l.oons uncommon, Of Puffins only two were seen 

 off the Perroquets on the journey down and two on the return. 



One was seen near Piashte-bai. Black Guillemots were fairly 



common. Of Mnrres, either troillr or lomvia, I saw four between 

 Natashquan and Esquimaux Point, and fourteen between Mingan 

 and Seven Islands. Of Rasor-billed Auks 1 saw only two off the 

 Perroquets on the trip down and three on the return, as well 

 as two near Piashte-bai. A Dovekie was seen on -Inly '21 above 

 the region of the Labrador Peninsula near Godbout. Mr. Napo- 

 leon A. Comeau, the veteran naturalist of this place, told me that 



