COURTSHIPS OF LABRADOR BIRDS 



flew first in his eagerness to get away from 

 danger. Sometimes several pairs, apparently 

 mated, would swim about together or rest on 

 the rocks close to the water, while at other 

 times one or two females would be surrounded 

 by six or eight males that were crowding about 

 them to win their favours. 



The actual courtship of the eider, or moynak, 

 as it is universally known along this French- 

 Indian coast of Labrador, may be recognized 

 from afar by the love-note of the male, a note 

 that Cartwright likened to the cooing of the 

 stock-dove. To me it sounded like the syllables 

 aah-ou, or ah-ee-ou frequently repeated, and, 

 while low and pleasing in tone, its volume is so 

 great that it can be heard at a considerable dis- 

 tance over the water. On a calm day, when 

 there were many eiders about, the sound was al- 

 most constant. While the syllables aah-ou ex- 

 press very well the usual notes, there is much 

 variation in tone from a low and gentle pleading, 

 to a loud and confident assertion. In fact the 

 tones vary much as do those of the human voice, 

 and there is a very human quality in them, so 

 much so that when alone on some solitary isle, 

 I was not infrequently startled with the idea 



87 



