A LABRADOR SPRING 



where the females are as dull coloured and in- 

 conspicuous as sparrows. 



That all this is very different from the present 

 day fashion among civilized mankind is of 

 course a trite observation, but one wonders 

 whether the old instinct is not still present, for 

 men. when away from the restraints of con- 

 ventionality, love to adorn themselves with 

 striking raiment, as witness the cow-boy and the 

 tourist-sportsman, while it is an open question 

 whether men are not naturally more attracted 

 by the women quietly but carefully and taste- 

 fully dressed, than by the woman whose gar- 

 ments suggest the male bird of paradise. Most 

 women think otherwise, if we are to judge from 

 outward appearances, but I am inclined to think 

 they do not understand men, and are ignorant 

 of this deep, inherited taste. 



One of the most marked examples of the 

 adornment of the male and of the quiet dress 

 of the female among birds is the eider, a common 

 and characteristic duck of this Labrador coast. 

 The male is indeed a striking bird; he is 

 a splendid duck of large proportions with a 

 creamy white upper breast and back. His 



wings, tail, lower breast, belly and top of his 



84 



