TOWNSEND AND ALLEN: LABRADOR BIRDS. 291 



mistaken in his identification, but we cannot believe that he made 

 an error in the case of other birds such as the Oyster-catcher, Least 

 Tern, or Black-throated Loon. It seems probable that some of these 

 birds were on the frontiers of their breeding grounds in southern 

 Labrador and that as the numbers of birds were diminished by the 

 agency of man, the species as a whole withdrew its outposts and the 

 more favorable central portions of its range were alone utilized. For 

 example the Least Tern which Audubon found breeding in Labrador, 

 also formerly bred on the Massachusetts coast north of Cape Ann 

 but is not found now north of Cape Cod. In a similar way the Black- 

 throated Loon is not now known to breed in southern Labrador, 

 but Audubon found it preparing to breed in that part of the penin- 

 sula. 



In the summer of 1849, Dr. Horatio It. Storer with his brother 

 F. H. Storer, and Dr. Jeffries Wyman, explored the southern coast of 

 Labrador from American Harbor to Red Bay. They were there 

 from July 20th to September 25th. Dr. Storer published in the 

 Journal of the Boston society of natural history the results of his 

 studies on the Labrador fishes. His manuscript journal, kindly lent 

 us through his son Dr. Malcolm Storer, contains several interesting 

 observations on birds which are noted elsewhere in this paper. Dr. 

 Storer's bird skins were unfortunately largely destroyed by the damp- 

 ness of the climate. 



Dr. Henry Bryant studied the birds of the Bay of St. Lawrence in 

 the summer of 1860, visiting Bird Rock and the southern coast of 

 Labrador from the Romaine River on the west to Chateau on the 

 east. 



Dr. Elliott Coues visited Labrador in the summer of 1860 in order 

 to procure specimens of birds and eggs for the Smithsonian institution. 

 He arrived at Sloop Harbor on the southern coast about the 3d of 

 July. Leaving there on the 6th, he proceeded directly to Esquimaux 

 Bay, where the greater part of the summer was spent. He was at 

 Rigolet for a few days. On August 15th, he sailed to Henley Harbor 

 on the Straits of Belle Isle and remained there two weeks before 

 sailing for home. 



A. E. Verrill, in 1861, studied the natural history of the Bay of 

 St. Lawrence, particularly the island of Anticosti. He extended his 

 observations, however, to the limits of Labrador, visiting the Mingan 

 Islands from July 4th to July 11th. 



