Bird- Life in Labrador. 77 



man and Naturalist, of July 15, 1881, in an article entitled 

 " Bird-nesting in Labrador," Mr. Napoleon A. Oomean, a gen- 

 tleman personally known to the writer, says of a small island 

 opposite Mingan, which was covered with nests of the com- 

 mon eider : " Here we first found the nest of its congener, 

 the king eider (8. speetabilis)." This is, I believe, the first 

 record of this rare nest found on the Atlantic. We found the 

 birds abundant in migrations and in immense flocks both in 

 the Spring and in the Fall. I understood from the natives 

 that the males and females fly in separate flocks, the latter ap- 

 pearing a week or ten days later than the former. Their hab- 

 its appeared to be quite similar to those of the common eider, 

 especially in the Spring ; but this may be from the fact that 

 both flocks appear so simultaneously upon the coast that we 

 were unable to distinguish the species. There are doubtless 

 many points of difference as well as of semblance between the 

 species, but we must wait until we know both better before 

 particularizing. 



PACIFIC EIDER 



Somateria v-nigra 



I AM well aware that I censured highly by onithologists 

 for including this species at all in my list of Labrador birds, 

 yet I fully believe in its occurrence in all North Atlantic. 

 Why may not this species visit the Labrador coast as well as 

 so many others that are not really North Atlantic species ? 

 The curlew is really not a North Atlantic bird, yet it is 

 regarded generally as one of the if not the characteristic bird 

 of Labrador. Of this species my notes say : Abundant in 

 large flocks in Spring. T obtained specimens that had the 

 decided " V-shaped black mark," on the chin, and was told 

 by the natives that there were " three different species of 

 Spring ducks so near alike that you could hardly tell the 

 difference." The occurrence of this species has been doubted 

 by several authorities. I still believe that specimens will be 

 eventually secured that will prove it unquestionably. 



