382 LABRADOR 
Labrador, breeds at favourable spots all along the coast, but 
it is to be seen in greatest abundance in the Straits of Belle 
Isle near Bradore. Here it breeds in great numbers at 
Parroquet Island, a small island of crumbling red sand- 
stone in which it burrows and lays its single egg. The 
puffin is a good bird to watch from a steamer, for it allows 
of close approach before it attempts to get out of the way. 
After nervously dabbing with its bill at the water a few 
times, it either dives or flies away. In both cases it may 
be said to fly away, for in diving it flops out its wings as 
it goes down, and continues to use them under water in 
flight. Whether swimming on the surface, or in aérial 
flight, the shape and appearance of puffins are characteristic. 
They are short and apoplectic in form, being devoid of 
a neck. Their large red bills and gray eye-rings, which 
suggest spectacles, and the dark band about the neck, give 
them a comical appearance. 
The black guillemot, or sea pigeon, is perhaps the most 
ubiquitous bird along the coast. It breeds securely in 
deep fissures among the rocks. Its black plumage, relieved 
by the large white patches on its wings, makes it very con- 
spicuous. Both the common and_ Brunnich’s murres 
breed along the coast, although in sadly diminished 
ranks as compared with their former abundance. Each 
species lays a single egg on the rocky ledges. The egg 
varies greatly from a delicate blue or bluish green to a 
buffy white, and is wonderfully spotted or streaked with 
various shades of brown. It is pyriform in shape, so that 
it is less liable to roll off its precarious perch. 
The razor-billed auk, or tinker, is also to be found breed- 
ing on the rocky islands, except where the greed of man has 
