Bird-Life in Labrador. 59 



cover ; Summer specimens having no chestnut anywhere that 

 I could observe. I have noticed frequently that the fatter 

 many species are the more their feathers incline to such colors 

 as rufous, chestnut, etc 1 ., and the leaner they are the grayer ; 

 but this is not always true, yet a bird is seldom in high plu- 

 mage unless fat also. I really grew quite fond of this sand- 

 piper. They were very abundant. I went out owe morning 

 to shoot a mess of them for breakfast and had the good for- 

 tune to secure eighty-seven of them in five shots besides any 

 amount of wounded birds that I was unable to obtain. I 

 have often had a flock of several hundred alight within easy 

 range or circle over my head or near by from which I have 

 secured a do/en and over at a single shot ; yet their numbers 

 did not nppear to diminish or their tameness decrease in the 

 slightest.; butTI must hasten to other species. 



ASH COLORED SANDPIPER ROBIN SNIPE 



KNOT 



nqa canutus. LINN. 



REGARDING this rather rare sandpiper my note book reads : 

 September 30, Old Fort Island. I shot several of these birds 

 to-day from a flock that landed on the flats. I recollect see- 

 ing only this one flock during the entire season. They were 

 rather wild ones. One specimen was evidently a young bird 

 and the plumage almost entirely gray, with semi-circles of 

 white and black ; rump white barred with black ; tail ashy, 

 white tipped with a darker edge ; throat faintly streaked, and 

 under parts with slight buff sprinklings, otherwise white It 

 was very fat. I remember distinctly what a melancholy-look- 

 ing group they looked, as they stood in or near a small pool of 

 water and searched for food. I verily believe that that one 

 attempt fully 4 satisfied them of the unproductiveness of the Lab- 

 rador soil and so they left for scenes more productive and climes 

 more congenial. 



