Hi r<l- Life in Labrador. >31 



foody pea-body of the white -limited sparrow. It is a charac- 

 teristic feature, especially of lower Labrador. The tee being 

 uttered several tones lower than the other notes, which are all 

 on' the same key. Sometimes tlvc pea-body is repeated only 

 twice, and rarely a single time. I was much struck by this 

 latter iact, as a curious circumstance impressed it upon my 

 memory. I was walking through the brush just back of the 

 -station at Mingan, at dusk, one evening. The air was full of 

 the melody of this little songster, when suddenly I noticed, I 

 cannot tell why as there was certainly nothing in the note to 

 -cause one to be suspicious, a rather shrill yet mellow tee-dee^ 

 dee pea-body i>ea-body 7 uttered just beyond the thicket at my 

 right. The pea-body was repeated but twice, whereas it is 

 usually though not always repeated three times. The call 

 was immediately responded to by the same notes with the 

 word sounded but once. This unusual c<M set me to think- 

 ing, so much so that, though not positive, I am very strongly 

 of the impression that the call was repeated in exactly the re- 

 verse order. The next instant an Indian stepped out in each 

 of the directions whence the calls had proceeded and, ap- 

 proaching each other, walked slowly towards the station. I 

 had unconsciously detected one of the Indian means of attract- 

 ing the attention of their fellows without discovery to them- 

 selves. It was a lesson in woodcraft to me that I have never 

 forgotten. I found this charming little fellow everywhere I 

 went all along the coast, though never quite so common as its 

 intimate friend the white-crown. They were always together 

 in sedge, field, thicket, and wood. In the Spring, at morning 

 and at evening, they trilled forth their lay in common, acd 

 sometimes so closely together that one could barely distin- 

 guish from which bird each note came. The white-throat 

 is common everywhere and breeds. It seems to select situa- 

 tions in which to place its nest more remote from habitations 

 than does the white-crowned, which rears its young in cozy 

 nests often a few rods only from the dooryards of the houses. 

 I shot my first specimen at Old Fort Island, October 6. I 



