Bird- Life in Labrador. 87 



are eventually dragged under the water and either one or both 

 overcome and drowned. These (and other gulls) are generally 

 most abundant at low tide, when they collect in large bodies 

 and rest upon the rocks or swim in the waters just off shore. 

 They are dreaded by the duck hunters, as they are alarmed at 

 the slightest appearance of danger, and frighten off every par- 

 ticle of game by their cries and wariness. Though at times 

 and in some places they are quite tame they are more often 

 wilder than the wildest hawks. They are hunted in the same 

 way as are the former species. 



KITTIWAKE GULL 



Rissa tridactyla. (L.) BP. 



WHILE on the coast I several times saw a small gull that 

 might have been, and probably was, of this species. It is 

 doubtless of rather rare occurrence, and as it has been noted 

 several times by other authorities it seems best to include it 

 as a regular visitor in Spring and Fall, and doubtless breed- 

 ing occasionally. 



BONAPARTE^S GULL 



Chroieocephalw phiiaddphia. (OuD.) LAWK. 



I FOUND this handsome little gull abundant all along 

 the Labrador coast, more so, perhaps, in Southern Labrador, 

 yet it was apparently common in the farthest northern local- 

 ity we visited. It is a handsome little fellow, and its grace- 

 ful and well-sustained beating flight made it a great favorite 

 with those on shipboard. We often practiced firing at them, 

 and their tameness and apparently unsuspecting and confiding 

 nature almost shamed us for the wanton destruction not wan- 

 ton, for we preserved as many as them as we could secure in 

 good condition. Off the Fox and Mecattine islands, off 

 Natashquan and other neighboring places, we often found 

 this gull in flocks of say from five hundred to a thousand. 



