Bird- Life in Labrador. 17 



"Bocks once alighted upon the island, where their extreme 

 wildness was something remarkable. One can hardly say 

 enough of this most beautiful songster and most charming 

 little fellow, who chooses the bare ground for his nest of 

 four ashy-peppered eggs, and enlivens the long days with a 

 fresh and " clean-cut " song that, heard at early morn or in the 

 evening, would almost induce one to believe the bird inspired. 

 Often on a clear, crisp morning have I seen the lark ascend 

 by a series of spirals to an immense height ; then, remaining on 

 almost stationary wing, carol forth such a thrilling warble that 

 it seemed more like the chant of a spirit than the song of a bird* 



YELLOW-HUMPED WARBLER 



Dendrosca coronota. - (L.) GRAY. 



THIS little fellow scarcely deserves even a good-natured men- 

 tion. As if afraid of the coast and the people on it, he sought 

 the interior" up river" and there disported among low spruces 

 and tangled evergreens. As we sailed down this really beau- 

 tiful Esquimaux or St. Paul's River, from ten miles in the 

 interior, the prospects were everywhere charming, and we 

 enjoyed ourselves to the fullest extent* On the shore, a few 

 feet from us, we could see and hear the yellow-rumps. It is 

 a day in the latter part of July, yellow-rumps everywhere 

 abundant ; inference : common Summer resident, breeds; but 

 this little fellow is fond of society, for all he seeks and remains 

 in the interior, so we give him a neighborly companion whose 

 rather shy, stay-at-home disposition agees well with the un- 

 certain one of the present species* 



BLACK-POLL WARBLER 



Dendrosca striata. (FoRST.) BD. 



So far as I ascertained the black-poll warbler was not so ex- 

 clusively an interior bird as was the yellow-rump. I found it 

 equally abundant in Summer in the thicket, a few rods from 



