Bird-Life in Labrador. 25 



look cold. Some disrespectful urchin, suddenly and unbidden, 

 remarks, " Which, the natives or the birds ? " and I, as sudden- 

 ly, and somewhat fiercely, reply : (k Both, unreservedly both ? " 

 But, while we have been talking, some of the birds have 

 hopped down to a half-frozen and half- snow-in little brooklet, 

 just beneath their perch, to drink ; something has frightened 

 them ! A few mournful little peeps escape their throats, and 

 whisk ! a whirr, and off they go, piping their notes to the 

 modulations of their flight until lost to sight, very likely to 

 return, within half an hour, to the very same or some neighbor- 

 ing spot to feed again. As I have a few notes in my book upon 

 this species, and they may be of interest to some one, I will 

 transcribe them here : October 28, Old Fort Bay. I have 

 seen several flocks of alder birds or red-polls to-day. One 

 small one flying about the spruces near the lake, and several 

 large ones about the alders; they all seemed rather tame ex- 

 cept while flying at a great distance overhead, when they re- 

 peatedly uttered their faint, piping notes. It was often near- 

 ly or quite impossible to tell in what direction they were fly- 

 ing, as the notes seemed to re-echo, as some birds do, from 

 false directions. In their flight the birds of each flock would 

 keep close together, seldom spreading or straggling along as 

 some species do. For two weeks I found them nearly every* 

 where I went, in low alder growths, on the tops of high hills, 

 and in woody dells ; along the coast, and inland. In feeding, 

 they would hang on the limbs in all sorts of positions, head 

 downward, and in every conceivable manner, often reaching 

 upward or downward, stretching their necks and whole bodies 

 to pick some inviting tidbit far above or far below them. 

 Often several perch together on a single limb, bending it 

 until it tips them all off, forcing them to take wing ; but they 

 quickly alight near by or in the same place and are soon at 

 their work again. They are usually very busy little fellows, 

 not easily frightened, but when one takes the alarm and flies 

 they all follow. I shot a great many and saw a great many 

 of the linnets very near to me, and as far as I could ascertain 



