114 



NATURALIST'S GUIDE TO THE AMERICAS 



rockier slopes and crests, particularly 

 in the northwest part. 



The flora seems to possess definite 

 affinity with the sub-alpine life of 

 Labrador, and with the flora of New 

 England and New Jersey, but forms 

 related to those of New Brunswick, 

 Quebec, and Nova Scotia, are rela- 

 tively few, probably due to a barrier of 

 unfavorable soils prior to the post- 

 glacial submergence of the connecting 

 lands. 



Animal life 



The most important feature of the 

 fauna of Newfoundland is the woodland 

 caribou, which migrates in March from 

 the valleys and the more wooded por- 

 tions of the southern half of the island, 

 to the Cladonia-covered barrens of the 

 northwest, there to bear rts young in 

 May and June, and to browse through 

 the summer until the first heavy frosts 

 of October, when it again moves south- 

 ward. The large herds of this animal 

 thus moving annually back and forth 

 over the island are the dominant feature 

 in the animal life of the land, as the cod 

 is of the sea. 



The gray wolf (Cam's ly'caori), now 

 very scarce, and the black bear (Ursus 

 americanus group), frequent the interior. 

 The red fox and its variants are common. 

 Beaver, otter, weasel, arctic hare, musk- 

 rat and bats abound. No reptiles are 

 indigenous. Frogs have been intro- 

 duced and thrive well. The moose and 

 porcupine of the neighboring Canadian 

 coast are absent. Salmon and trout, 

 but no pike or pickerel, or other pre- 

 daceous fish, are found in the inland 

 streams or lakes. 



Bird life, both on land and sea, is rich 

 and varied. Over 300 species have been 

 recorded eagles, hawks, owls, wood- 

 peckers, swallows, king fishers, fly 

 catchers, thrushes, warblers, ravens, 

 jays, sparrows, and others inland; 

 golden plover, sandpipers, curlews and 

 other shore-birds, but no woodcock; 

 ducks, geese, loons, coot and others 

 frequent the many lakes and the coast; 

 dovekies, gannets, gulls, guillemots, 



puffins, murres, and razorbill auks 

 are abundant in the waters that wash 

 the shore; on the lower lands the willow 

 ptarmigan is one of the most distinctive 

 birds and on the uplands, the rock 

 ptarmigan. The great auk once fre- 

 quented the shores and the outlying 

 islands but has been extinct these many 

 years. 



Insect life is abundant. Mosquitoes 

 and deerflies are apparently omnipresent 

 throughout much of the summer. Gay 

 butterflies flit over the open vales and 

 barrens; moths of many species frequent 

 both open and woodland. 



And in the sea adjacent to Newfound- 

 land, particularly on the Grand Banks 

 to the south and southeast, the aquatic 

 fauna is one of the richest in the world. 

 In this meeting ground of the Green- 

 land current with the Gulf Stream, both 

 bearing heavy loads of pelagic algae 

 and other minute forms, sea life is most 

 abundant. Echinoderms, molluscs, an- 

 nelids, and coelenterates innumerable, 

 feed upon this rich plankton growth, 

 and in turn yield sustenance to the fish 

 and larger forms. 



About the first of June the caplin, 

 a small fish, appears on the banks in 

 incredible millions, and preying upon 

 them appear the cod. When the caplin 

 disappear, the squid comes to take its 

 place as cod-food, and when the squid 

 leaves the herring appear, thus furnish- 

 ing the cod with an abundance of food 

 until mid-October, when it too leaves. 

 Lobsters are abundant in the off-shore 

 waters. Mackerel once frequented the 

 coast in large numbers but disappeared 

 about the middle of the nineteenth 

 century, and have not returned. 



In spring thousands of harp and a few 

 hooded seal float south from the Arctic 

 regions on pan-ice borne by the Green- 

 land Current, to bear their young on the 

 floes. They are killed by hundreds of 

 thousands, both young and old, during 

 the month of April. Hundreds of whales 

 are also killed annually, many of them 

 sulphur-bottoms, finbacks, and hump- 

 backs. The white whale, or beluga, 

 one of the porpoises, is occasionally 



