382 LABRADOR 



Labrador, breeds at favourable spots all along the coast, but 

 it is to be seen in greatest abundance in the Straits of Belle 

 Isle near Bradore. Here it breeds in great numbers at 

 Parroquet Island, a small island of crumbling red sand- 

 stone in which it burrows and lays its single egg. The 

 puffin is a good bird to watch from a steamer, for it allows 

 of close approach before it attempts to get out of the way. 

 After nervously dabbing with its bill at the water a few 

 times, it either dives or flies away. In both cases it may 

 be said to fly away, for in diving it flops out its wings as 

 it goes down, and continues to use them under water in 

 flight. Whether swimming on the surface, or in aerial 

 flight, the shape and appearance of puffins are characteristic. 

 They are short and apoplectic in form, being devoid of 

 a neck. Their large red bills and gray eye-rings, which 

 suggest spectacles, and the dark band about the neck, give 

 them a comical appearance. 



The black guillemot, or sea pigeon, is perhaps the most 

 ubiquitous bird along the coast. It breeds securely in 

 deep fissures among the rocks. Its black plumage, relieved 

 by the large white patches on its wings, makes it very con- 

 spicuous. Both the common and Briinnich's murres 

 breed along the coast, although in sadly diminished 

 ranks as compared with their former abundance. Each 

 species lays a single egg on the rocky ledges. The egg 

 varies greatly from a delicate blue or bluish green to a 

 buffy white, and is wonderfully spotted or streaked with 

 various shades of brown. It is pyriform in shape, so that 

 it is less liable to roll off its precarious perch. 



The razor-billed auk, or tinker, is also to be found breed- 

 ing on the rocky islands, except where the greed of man has 



