THE BIRDS 381 
the snowy owl’s feet are well padded and tufted with 
feathers. 
The change of colour in the ptarmigan from the brown 
and mottled plumage of summer to the snowy white of 
winter is due not to any mysterious change in the feathers 
themselves, but to the moulting of the brown feathers and 
to their replacement by others of a different colour. Both 
plumages are wonderfully protective, and it is as difficult 
to see the brown bird amid its barren surroundings in sum- 
mer as it is to see the white bird amid the snow and ice 
in winter. 
While the coastal strip is under consideration, it will be 
well to speak of the water-birds that breed along the shore. 
Of the small wading birds one of the most interesting is 
the northern phalarope, not much larger than a “peep,” 
that bears the name of “‘gale bird”’ on the Labrador coast, 
“sea-goose’’ on the New England coast. It has a habit 
of riding the water both of the sea and of the reedy pools 
like a miniature goose or duck. On the shores of these 
reedy pools along the coast, the females lay the eggs, but 
confide to the males, smaller and less brightly plumaged 
birds, the duties of incubation and caring for the young, 
while they go gadding in companies off at sea. Least and 
spotted sandpipers and semipalmated plover also breed 
on the Labrador coast, but most of this group go farther 
north to raise their young. 
Of the divers, the loon and red-throated loon breed com- 
monly near fresh-water ponds, and are to be met with in 
considerable numbers along the coast. The black-throated 
loon is occasionally found in the northern portions. 
The puffin, or parroquet, as it is universally called in 
