A LABRADOR SPRING 
where the females are as dull coloured and in- 
conspicuous as sparrows. 
That all this is very different from the present 
day fashion among civilized mankind is of 
course a trite observation, but one wonders 
whether the old instinct is not still present, for 
men. when away from the restraints of con- 
ventionality, love to adorn themselves with 
striking raiment, as witness the cow-boy and the 
tourist-sportsman, while it is an open question 
whether men are not naturally more attracted 
by the women quietly but carefully and taste- 
fully dressed, than by the woman whose gar- 
ments suggest the male bird of paradise. Most 
women think otherwise, if we are to judge from 
outward appearances, but I am inclined to think 
they do not understand men, and are ignorant 
of this deep, inherited taste. 
One of the most marked examples of the 
adornment of the male and of the quiet dress 
of the female among birds is the eider, a common 
and characteristic duck of this Labrador coast. 
The male is indeed a striking bird; he is 
a splendid duck of large proportions with a 
creamy white upper breast and back. His 
wings, tail, lower breast, belly and top of his 
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