THE LABRADOR JOURNAL 4*9 



Coolidge, went off this morning after an early breakfast 

 to a place called Port Eau, eighteen miles distant, to try 

 to procure some Esquimaux dresses, particularly mocca- 

 sins. I felt glad when the boat which took them across 

 the bay returned, as it assured me they were at least on 

 terra firma. I do not expect them till to-morrow night, 

 and I greatly miss them. When all our party is present, 

 music, anecdotes, and jokes, journalizing and comparing 

 notes, make the time pass merrily ; but this evening the 

 captain is on deck, Coolidge is skinning a bird, and I am 

 writing that which is scarcely worth recording, with a 

 horridly bad patent pen. I have to-day drawn three young 

 Shore Larks, Alauda alpestris, the first ever portrayed by 

 man. I did wish to draw an adult male, in full summer 

 plumage, but could not get a handsome one. In one 

 month all these birds must leave this coast, or begin to 

 suffer. The young of many birds are full-fledged, and 

 scamper over the rocks ; the Ducks alone seem backward, 

 but being more hardy can stay till October, when deep 

 snows drive them off, ready or not for their laborious 

 journey. I saw this afternoon two, or a pair, of the 

 Phalaropus hyperboreus; 1 they were swimming in a small 

 fresh-water pond, feeding on insects, and no doubt had 

 their nest close by, as they evinced great anxiety at my 

 approach. I did not shoot at them, and hope to find the 

 nest or young; but to find nests in the moss is a difficult 

 job, for the whole country looks alike. "The Curlews 

 are coming;" this is as much of a saying here as that 

 about the Wild Pigeons in Kentucky. What species of 

 Curlew, I know not yet, for none have been killed, but 

 one of our men, who started with John and party, broke 

 down, and was sent back ; he assured me that he had seen 

 some with bills about four inches long, and the body the 

 size of a Wild Pigeon. The accounts given of these Cur- 

 lews border on the miraculous, and I shall say nothing 



1 Brown or Northern Phalarope. 



