Bird- Life in Labrador. 15 



the echoes in the old wood, and seems a signal of safety and 

 a call for gathering for every chickadee within twenty yards 

 around. Then they begin to gather. Every bush swarms 

 with them. I remain still, and the cautious little fellows hop 

 nearer and nearer. If I move they are off; if I remain 

 perfectly still they hop around and over me without the 

 slightest hesitation. My large boots seem the object of great- 

 est curiosity to them, and more than once several good- 

 si/ed overflow meetings apparently took them for a text and 

 preached with great success, each bird in his turn, then all to- 

 gether, upon this topic alone. At last, and somewhat uncon- 

 sciously, one toe moves several inches, when whist ! the panic 

 that ensues is fearful and the meeting, overflows and all, breaks 

 up in an instant. A whish of many wings, a vindictive ee- 

 ee-ee, growing fainter and fainter, then ceasing altogether, 

 and I am postively alone. Did I wait ten minutes they would 

 all comeback : but my attention is called in another direction, 

 as will presently appear. The Hudsonian titmouse breeds in 

 the interior, all up and down the coast, where it prefers the 

 tangled undergrowth so difficult of access. Its note is 

 wheezed and not a clear pronounced dee, repeated several 

 times. 



SHORE LARK HORNED LARK 



Eremophila alpestris. (L.) BOIE. 



THE bird that has detracted our attention from the group 

 of diminutive curiosity seekers, flies by with a wild flight far 

 up in the sky above, uttering a wild, querulous whistle as he 

 passes, and is immediately lost in the distance. It is the shore 

 or horned lark ; the people here call it the skylark. We will 

 turn to the note-book again ; here is the record : Monday, Oc- 

 tober 1 1. This morning I shot several specimens of the horn- 

 ed lark and noted the extent of the pinkish color on the wing 

 coverts, rump, and neck, usual in the Spring specimens of high 

 Eastern regions. My long stay upon the coast made me quite 



