GRAND ROMAINE AND OLD ROMAINE 



alighted on my leg stretched on a log. It was 

 evident that a nest of young was concealed 

 near at hand. It is a common bird all along 

 this southern coast. 



It might be objected that a bird could not 

 chip with "its bill full of insects." Birds are, 

 however, not only able to chip and scold in the 

 most lively manner, but even to sing with their 

 bills overflowing with insects. This is because 

 the bird's voice is produced lower down, in the 

 syrinx, which corresponds to our larynx, and 

 the mouth and tongue are not needed for vocal 

 expression. In all but a few recent pictures 

 of a bird singing, the tongue is shown as if it 

 were used as is the human tongue in song. 

 As a matter of fact, the bird's tongue during 

 song lies passive out of sight on the floor of 

 the mouth. 



The view over the valley of the Romaine 

 River,'with its thickly crowded spruce forests, 

 to the barrens dotted with lakes and lakelets 

 beyond and to the distant range of low moun- 

 tains, was a characteristic one of this region. 

 In the bogs a hard surface of ice could be 

 found a foot to eighteen inches down, and on 

 a sand-ridge the ground was frozen solidly 



87 



