THE BIRDS 381 



the snowy owl's feet are well padded and tufted with 

 feathers. 



The change of colour in the ptarmigan from the brown 

 and mottled plumage of summer to the snowy white of 

 winter is due not to any mysterious change in the feathers 

 themselves, but to the moulting of the brown feathers and 

 to their replacement by others of a different colour. Both 

 plumages are wonderfully protective, and it is as difficult 

 to see the brown bird amid its barren surroundings in sum- 

 mer as it is to see the white bird amid the snow and ice 

 in winter. 



While the coastal strip is under consideration, it will be 

 well to speak of the water-birds that breed along the shore. 

 Of the small wading birds one of the most interesting is 

 the northern phalarope, not much larger than a "peep," 

 that bears the name of "gale bird" on the Labrador coast, 

 "sea-goose" on the New England coast. It has a habit 

 of riding the water both of the sea and of the reedy pools 

 like a miniature goose or duck. On the shores of these 

 reedy pools along the coast, the females lay the eggs, but 

 confide to the males, smaller and less brightly plumaged 

 birds, the duties of incubation and caring for the young, 

 while they go gadding in companies off at sea. Least and 

 spotted sandpipers and semipalmated plover also breed 

 on the Labrador coast, but most of this group go farther 

 north to raise their young. 



Of the divers, the loon and red-throated loon breed com- 

 monly near fresh-water ponds, and are to be met with in 

 considerable numbers along the coast. The black-throated 

 loon is occasionally found in the northern portions. 



The puffin, or parroquet, as it is universally called in 



