Bird-Life in Labrador. 13 



about at all times in the shyest and most careful manner. It had 

 a white patch in front of the eye, and another, smaller one, 

 behind it, the two almost confluent in a ring; it had the ruby 

 crown. If a small bird, naturally one of the smallest of the 

 feathered tribe, would thus keep one upon the watch for over 

 half an hour of a bunch of less than a dozen spruces, each less 

 than three feet high, it is no wonder that the rascal so readily 

 loses himself in the larger growths, where he is doutless more 

 or less abundant, as to be generally regarded as rare : but per- 

 haps the little fellow knew that he had an " old hand " after 

 him, and so, like Dave Crockett's 'coon, came out of his hid- 

 ing place on purpose to be shot at. 



HUDSONIAN CHICKADEE 



Parus hudsonicus. FORST. 



SOME of my notes upon this and succeeding species have been 

 previously transcribed in my larger work, but as the following- 

 paper will doubtless reach many that the-book will not I trust 

 they will be none the worse for the repetition. I have found 

 these little fellows everywhere on island and on mainland that 

 I have been and their cheerful presence has dec-dee-dee'ed 

 away approaching blues more than once. I first met them at 

 Old Fort Island, where they would frequently come and perch 

 upon the roof of the house, and occasionally fly in at the door- 

 way and pick up crumbs from the floor ; they were very tame 

 and would even allow you to catch them without much op- 

 position. Their flight was rapid, and, being ss small in size, 

 they could come and go with the suddenness of a shadow, and 

 one could seldom follow their flight for any distance. They of- 

 ten fly off in a zigzag series of straight lines, as if uncertain in 

 which direction to fly, and as often return to their former post, 

 the roof of the house, as if fully aware that that was their safest 

 place after all. I have stood in some open spot of ground, not 

 a retreat near me, and scanned the air everywhere about for a 

 sign of life in vain, when suddenly a whirr, a dee-dee of deri- 



