86 NEWFOUNDLAND 



which the men pulled the whole day. On each side was 

 dense forest of good-sized birch, white pine, "haps" (poplars), 

 " vars " (firs), and rowan, which stretched away in unbroken 

 masses to the distant hill-crests, situated about five miles on 

 each side of the river bed. Here and there stood up lonely 

 old leafless giants, 80 to 100 feet high, the relics of bygone 

 " timber " that had been burnt from forty to forty-five years 

 agfo. There seemed to be no fish, for fish do not care for 

 shallow running rivers, and consequently there were no birds 

 to enliven the scene ; so we plodded away steadily till past 

 nightfall, just reaching the woods opposite the lumber camp, 

 where darkness had already fallen. 



The next morning (loth September) a boat passed us, 

 carrying the " boss " of the lumber camp down stream. To 

 our question, he called out that there were no men above 

 the lumber camp, nor was anything known of the river 

 beyond the Great Gull River, about twenty miles up stream. 

 This was satisfactory, for we now hoped to see deer at any 

 moment. However, we plodded all day steadily on without 

 seeing any sign of game, although about sunset I began to 

 see some fresh tracks. 



The following day we encountered a series of small rapids 

 which took the men some time to negotiate, and here I saw 

 the first birds, a flock of twelve old male goosanders, locally 

 called " Gossets," diving and chasing trout in the roughest 

 place. They were all moulting their "pinions" and unable 

 to fly, but rushed up stream over the surface of the water at 

 a surprising rate. 



"Twilliks," too, were plentiful all along the river. The 

 greater yellowshank {Totanus inelanoleucus), locally known as 

 " Twillik," is very common in all the Newfoundland rivers 

 during the summer and autumn. It arrives in May and 



