CHAPTKR XVI. 

 SPORT IN NEWFOUNDLAND. 



A GOOD FIELD FOR SPOK.S3IEN. 



It is nut necfssaiy, tor the piui)Oses of this book, to (liscourse 

 .at auv ureat k-ngtli on Sport in NL-wfoiuulIaml, l)eyon(I wliat has 

 ItefU already said incidentally in jjrevious chapters. 



That Newfoundland presents to the lovers of sport attractions 

 such as lew otlier countries possess is admitted Ijy all who have 

 given it a trial. Its countless lake.s and lakelets abound with 

 trout of the finest ilescription, and are the abodes of the v, ild 

 goose, the wild duck and other fresh water fowl. The willow 

 grouse or ])tarniigau {Lafjopus alhmi) the rock ptarmigan, the 

 x;urlew, the plover, the snipe are found, in the proper sea.^ou, all 

 jjver the i.slaud, on the great " barrens," or in the marshy grouiid.s 

 ill immense numbers. The sea - pigeons and guiriemots, or 

 "murrs" or "turrs" as they are called in the vernacular are .seen 

 .all around the shores and islands. The large Arctic hare, and 

 the North-American hare, called erroneously by the natives a 

 " rabbit," are to be met with, — especially the latter — in great 

 alnuidance. The American hare i.s not indigenous, Init some 

 twenty years ago, a few pair were brought from Nova Scotia and 

 let loose. They have thriven and spread to such a wonderful 

 extent that they have reached nearly ever}- part of the island, 

 and in the fall and winter form an important item in the food of 

 the working classes. Above all, the noble caribou or deer, in 

 vast herds, traverse the island in periodical migrations fioiu 

 south to north, and furnisli the highest prize-s for the .sportsman. 

 Finer salmon streams than those of the island naturally are — or 

 rather were — could not be found elsewhere ; Init as described in 

 the chapter on the fisheries, they have been left unprotecteil, and 

 ignorant and reckless greed has almost destroyed rivers that once 



