182 AMERICAN GAME BIRD SHOOTING 



Labrador coast line flying south, and continue so till 

 they reach our large rivers, like the Manicouagan, 

 Bersimis and the Saguenay, seldom going west of this 

 last. These large rivers are followed up in a west 

 and northwesterly direction, the birds scattering inland 

 over a tract that includes the Lake St. John and Lake 

 Mistassini region, then down to the shores of Hudson's 

 Bay, where Dr. Milne and Mr. Peter McKenzie told 

 me they flew north all along the coast line to Ungava, 

 then south again to the Labrador, and so on. The 

 range of the flight on this side of Hudson's Bay would 

 cover about ten degrees of latitude and in round fig- 

 ures form a circle around this big peninsula of about 

 two thousand miles. As this immense body of ptarmi- 

 gan moves on during a season of abundance, stragglers 

 are left behind, which breed, giving another and lesser 

 batch to migrate the second year, when fewer strag- 

 glers are left, till the third or fourth season, when no 

 more are seen for a time. Their total absence varies 

 from four to six years. They seldom or never breed 

 in the lowlands, always seeming to prefer high and 

 bare mountainous sections. In June, 1893, I saw a 

 pair several times. They probably had their nest with- 

 in a mile of our house (Godbout). The earliest ap- 

 pearance of any large migration was October 29, 1872, 

 but as a rule it begins here from the I5th of November 

 to December. 



"The regular flight along the seashore lasts about 

 four to six weeks. After that the birds seem to scatter 

 inland and feed. When on the move they fly very 



