446 LABRADOR 



Eskimo curlew, in thousands twenty years ago, now 

 practically extinct. (I got four in September, 1912.) 



Eider duck, much scarcer, once they lived on every island. 

 Now very few nest on the coast at all. 



Canada goose, still plentiful. 



Black duck, widgeon, teal, and pintail, markedly fewer. 



Willow grouse, so variable that it is hard to gauge their 

 numbers. 



Spruce grouse, scarcer. 



Puffins, guillemots, auk, noticeably less. 



Woodland caribou, scarcer. 



Barren Land caribou, uncertainly met with. Mrs. Hub- 

 bard and Mr. Pritchard think still plentiful. 



At best it is a disheartening list, especially when we 

 have to add that in a country so hard to reforest vast 

 areas of the excellent pulp timber have been destroyed by 

 fire. 



On the other hand, the fact remains that these waters 

 are ideal for shoals of fish which are more valuable now 

 than ever ; that seals can flourish in immense herds on the 

 coast, and still pay a reasonable tax without serious re- 

 sults, while aviation and motoring is making their pelts 

 exceedingly valuable. 



For long-haired and dark furs this environment cannot 

 be excelled, and every year the price of good pelts advances. 

 They average more than 100 per cent more on this coast 

 than they did twenty years ago. Moreover, the country 

 can support enormous numbers of deer, and thus yield a 

 huge quantity of proteid food which is increasingly needed 

 by the outside world. This is clearly shown both by ex- 

 periment and by Nature. Again, its numerous rivers and 



