COURTSHIPS OF LABRADOR BIRDS 
flew first in his eagerness to get away from 
danger. Sometimes several pairs, apparently 
mated, would swim about together or rest on 
the rocks close to the water, while at other 
times one or two females would be surrounded 
by six or eight males that were crowding about 
them to win their favours. 
The actual courtship of the eider, or moynak, 
as it is universally known along this French- 
Indian coast of Labrador, may be recognized 
from afar by the love-note of the male, a note 
that Cartwright likened to the cooing of the 
stock-dove. To me it sounded like the syllables 
aah-ou, or ah-ee-ou frequently repeated, and, 
while low and pleasing in tone, its volume is so 
great that it can be heard at a considerable dis- 
tance over the water. On a calm day, when 
there were many eiders about, the sound was al- 
most constant. While the syllables aah-ou ex- 
press very well the usual notes, there is much 
variation in tone from a low and gentle pleading, 
to a loud and confident assertion. In fact the 
tones vary much as do those of the human voice, 
and there is a very human quality in them, so 
much so that when alone on some solitary isle, 
I was not infrequently startled with the idea 
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