310 Life of Audubon. 



priest, who I hope is a good and worthy man, told us that 

 the land is very poor and destitute of game, and that the 

 seal-fisheries were less profitable last year than common ; 

 that there are about one hundred and sixty families on a 

 dozen islands, and that cod, mackerel, and herring-fishing 

 were the employments of the inhabitants. One or two 

 vessels come from Quebec yearly to collect the produce 

 (of the sea). The priest said he led the life of a re- 

 cluse here, but if we would accompany him to his board- 

 ing-house he would give us a glass of good French wine. 



" On our rambles we found the temperature on land 

 quite agreeable, and in sheltered situations the sun was 

 warm and pleasant. The grass looked well, and straw- 

 berry blossoms were plenty. The woods, such as they 

 were, were filled with warblers : the robin, thrush, finch, 

 bunting, &c. The fox-tailed sparrow and siskin breed 

 here, the hermit and tawny thrush crossed our path, the 

 black-capped warbler gambolled over the pools, and even 

 the wrens were everywhere. Of water-birds the great 

 terns were abundant, and the piping plovers breed here. 

 We also collected several species of land-snails, and 

 some specimens of gypsum. We crossed the bay in the 

 afternoon, and found a man who had some fox-skins for 

 sale : he asked five pounds apiece for the black fox, and 

 one dollar and fifty cents for the red skins. The woods 

 here are small, scrubby evergreens, almost impenetrable 

 and swampy beneath. Thermometer this evening 44. 



" June 15. Day dawned with the weather dull, but 

 the wind fair, and we pulled up anchor and left the Mag- 

 dalene Islands for Labrador, the ultimatum of our present 

 desires. About ten o'clock we saw on the distant horizon 

 a speck, which I was told was the Rock ; the wind now 

 freshened, and I could soon see it plainly from the deck, 

 the top apparently covered with snow. Our pilot said 

 that the snow, which seemed two or three feet thick, waj 



