34 Bird-Life in Labrador. 



" russingel," or red singer : red thrush as some like better. I 

 found it all up and down the coast, though more common and 

 even abundant at the extreme points. A most beautiful little 

 scene comes to my recollection whenever I see or hear the 

 " russingel " ; it is pictured in a very short sentence in my note 

 book, and the event occurred at Red Bay : We entered Red 

 Bay of a Sunday. I shall never forget the clear, beautiful, 

 varying shades of green on the slopes, and the dark outlines 

 of the houses, as the sun sank behind the Western hills, 

 overshadowing them for an instant, the first night of our en- 

 trance into this charming little harbor. We could see the peo- 

 ple all along the shore, wending their way to church ; while 

 in place of the well-known music of the church bells, the rob- 

 ins, here equally abundant as at home, and the " russingels," 

 or fox sparrows, sent forth a perfect melody of harmony that 

 accorded well with the scene. The first of these birds that I 

 succeeded in obtaining was from a small flock of four or five 

 that had alighted upon the ridge-pole of the house on one of 

 the islands where I was staying. That was on May 2d. It 

 sings at morning and evening, and in places where it is abund- 

 ant is found everywhere in the dells and low growths of the 

 lowlands. It may breed, but of this I am unable to speak 

 positively. On the lower North shore region, about Natash- 

 quan and Mingan, the fox-sparrow is very common and its 

 habits are much the same as in the States. It prefers the 

 scrubby, leafless bushes, and leaf-strewn ground of dry or moist 

 places, in which to rush about and play at a sort of aviarian 

 tag, to all appearances much to their own satisfaction. 



BUSTY BLACKBIRD BUSTY GRACKLE 



Scolecophagus ferrugineua. (GM.) S\v. 



MY first acquaintance with this species was on September 

 '24th, while we were lying befogged just off St. Augustine, 

 when a pigeon hawk, a small owl, probably the scops asio or 

 screech owl, and one of these birds, each at different times, 



