A LABRADOR SPRING 



while it lasted, and very decisive; one of the 

 drakes had to be rejected. 



Another water bird whose courtship I watched 

 on the Labrador coast was that curious indi- 

 vidual that compound of dignity and com- 

 icality the puffin. On this coast the bird 

 is universally known as the " perroquet," but 

 Sir Richard Bonnycastle in his "Newfound- 

 land in 1842 " justly says it " may be called 

 the sea-owl, from its extraordinary head and 

 wise look." Near Bald Island they delighted 

 to gather on the water in compact parties of 

 fifty or sixty individuals, that were constantly 

 moving in and out like a crowd at an afternoon 

 tea. Every now and then one would sit up on 

 the water and spread its wings, and once I 

 watched two fighting with flapping wings, and, 

 at another time, two struggling together for a 

 full minute with interlocked beaks. Occasion- 

 ally one puffin would face another, and throw 

 its head back with a quick jerk so that the bill 

 pointed vertically up, and then lower it again. 

 At one time I saw several birds do this, but as 

 the wind was strong, the water rough and the 

 distance considerable, my observations were 

 far from complete and satisfactory. Edmund 



96 



