$* Bird-Life in LaBrador. 



saw others at the same time ; they were flying about rmrcfo 

 like and in company with the savanna sparrows, among the' 

 .low evergreens on the island. They, like many others of the- 

 sparrow tribe, crept about so slyly in and out of the bushes,, 

 now appearing on the top twigs to chant a few feeble notes,, 

 then disappearing and rattling through the closely wo verb 

 twigs- and branches, or creeping between them, that one could; 

 scarcely get a moment's- sight of them. When wounded their 

 caution was doubled,. They would wedge themselves into the 

 smallest corners, under leaves r twigs, and roots, into holes oii" 

 the ground, anywhere to escape observation,, their brown 

 backs, so near the color of the decaying foliage, and small; 

 size, greatly aiding them-. If winged- in open ground they 

 would run so swiftly as almost to defy pursuit. Sometimes- 

 the little fellow had a way of appearing suddenly on the top- 

 most twig of some bush and straightening himself out so that 

 he looked as much a part of the twig as- the top to a mullein 

 stalk or the pod of a milkweed. On the North shore, where* 

 there were trees of any size, they frequently would alight on 

 some high branch and so ruffle up their feathers as to look al- 

 most as- large as a robin. They were very tame r but chase 

 them through the brush and they would at once become so j 

 silent, active, and shy that the longer you followed them the 

 more you became convinced of the uselessness- of the attempt ; 

 yet return to som-e convenient situation,, sit down quietly and 

 wait, and soon twenty would appear where you searched in 

 vain for one only a moment before. On the shores of Belle 

 Isle Straits- this species is much less common than its next 

 neighbor, 



WHITE CROWNED SPARROW 



Zonotrichia leueophrys. (FoEST.) Sw, 



As' the white-throat is one of the characteristic birds of the 

 North shore of the St. Lawrence, so is the white-crowned one 

 of the characteristic birds of Labrador, at least to Belle Isle. 



