TOWNSEND AND ALLEN: LABRADOR BIRDS. 279 



raplry and faunal areas of Labrador, followed by an ornithological 

 history, including an account of the expeditions of the ornithologists 

 who have visited Labrador, and of the destruction of bird life and eggs 

 there, and lastly an annotated list of the birds of this region as well as 

 a bibliography. 



Many of the ornithological records for Labrador are imperfect and 

 of doubtful value and we have often found considerable difficulty in 

 deciding on their merits. It is therefore possible that some of the 

 species that are condemned to the doubtful or erroneous list (in small 

 type) may be worthy of a higher position, and that some of the species 

 in the regular list do not deserve that honor. We have, however, 

 presented all the evidence we can find in all cases, so that readers can 

 draw their own conclusions. 



We have considered in all 259 species and subspecies, two of 

 which are now extinct. Of the remainder we have put 44 species in 

 the doubtful or erroneous list, leaving 213 species and subspecies 

 whose status for Labrador we have considered certain. Of these, 

 however, some 15 are of accidental occurrence only. The nomen- 

 clature and order followed, are those of the Check-List of the American 

 ornithologists' union as corrected up to 1906, except in the case of 

 the Horned Owl. Here we have adopted the name given by H. C. 

 Oberholser. 



Topography. 



Geography. — Labrador is a peninsula on the northeast coast of 

 North America lying north of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Its eastern 

 coast, washed by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Arctic current, 

 is some seven hundred miles in length, extending from Cape Charles 

 at the entrance to the Straits of Belle Isle in north latitude 52°, north- 

 northwest to Cape Chidley in latitude 60° 30'. On the north the 

 peninsula is bounded by Hudson Strait and its offshoot, Ungava Bay. 

 From Cape Chidley at the eastern to Cape Wolstenholme at the 

 western extremity of this boundary the distance in a straight line, 

 which runs about west-northwest, is nearly five hundred miles. The 

 actual coast line is nearly twice as long. The western boundary 

 is formed by the shores of Hudson Bay, and its prolongation south- 

 ward into James Bay. This boundary runs nearly north and south for 

 about eight hundred miles. The southern boundary is arbitrary, 

 but is generally taken, and is so considered in this paper, as a line 



