CHAPTER XVII 



ANIMAL LIFE IN LABRADOR 

 BY WILFRED T. GRENFELL 



THE struggle for life among the Labrador mammals is well 

 worthy the title. The state of the soil, climate, temperature, 

 with the resulting conditions especially of the Flora, make it 

 possible for only well-adapted and vigorous animals to live at 

 all. The difficulty of survival is increased by the constant 

 warfare among themselves, many having to live by preying 

 on the others. The squirrel is never safe from the lynx, 

 the caribou from the wolf, the rabbit from the fox. The 

 snow betrays every movement, and in winter the weaker 

 run a constant risk of extinction. Even our birds force 

 upon us the fact that .the dire conditions of life induce in 

 them no sentimental feelings of mercy. On one occasion my 

 retriever brought me too fat auks which he had caught on 

 the frozen bay, long after most birds have left us. It was 

 Sunday morning, and to spare the prejudices of the people 

 I was visiting, I forebore to carry them into the village. 

 On the ground, however, the tracks of fox and lynx warned 

 me that the birds were not safe. Accordingly I hung 

 them high up in a tree. On returning a little later I found 

 nothing but bones and feathers an owl had probably 

 visited my cache. Another time, having done the same 

 thing with three fat partridges, we caught the robbers 

 flagrante delicto. -They proved to be two small Canada 

 jays. One very cold day, the sea being covered with young 



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