TOWNSEND AND ALLEN: LABRADOR BIRDS. 301 



peninsula, report the Loon as breeding commonly in the interior, 

 and Macoun records a nest July 25th at Clearwater Lake. 



Along the east coast, in the latter part of July we saw Loons fre- 

 quently flying about in pairs, and on some occasions they were gath- 

 ered in small flocks of three or four. On July 23, 1906, we saw a 

 flock of six flying past near Makkovik. Mr. Schmitt, one of the 

 Moravian brothers at Nain, told us that the Loon bred in that vicinity 

 early in July. 



Gavia arcticus (Linn.). 



Black-throated Loon. 



Summer resident, not uncommon in the north, very rare in the 

 south. 



Audubon says: "Whilst in Labrador, I saw a few pairs courting 

 on wing, much in the manner of the Red-throated Diver." Xo nests 

 were found. Stearns says: "Two. . . .obtained. . . .off the Labrador 

 coast by one of the French priests at Bersimis, one in 1880." 



Macoun regards the Black-throated Loon as "occasional on the 

 coast of Labrador but apparently common on the shores of Hudson 

 Bay, where they breed. Male and female and young, nearly full 

 grown, shot on Nottingham Island, Hudson Strait, August 28th, 1884. 

 (R. Bell)." Low ('06) found it very common in the northern parts of 

 Hudson Bay where it nests "on islands or along the swampy edges of 

 ponds not far from the coast." Bell also found them on the East 

 Main coast of Hudson Bay. The record by J. M. Macoun that a few 

 breed at Lake Mistassini may be open to question. 



Gavia lumme (Gunn.). 

 Red-throated Loon; "Whabby." 



Common summer resident. 



Cartwright describes the "Whabby," as "a water-fowl of the diving 

 genus" and he occasionally shot one with his rifle. He probably 

 referred to this species, for it was so called by Stearns, and the name 

 is used at the present day by the natives to designate it. 



The Red-throated Diver is a common bird throughout Labrador. 

 Audubon, Verrill, Stearns, Frazar, and Brewster found it breeding 

 in southern Labrador. Low found it breeding commonly on the 

 upper Hamilton and Koksoak Rivers, and it was common along the 



