IN AUDUBON'S LABRADOR 



throat. The upper parts are slate blue; the 

 back of the neck is slashed with wavy lines of 

 white. Whabby is their name among the Eng- 

 lish-speaking people of the coast. It was used 

 by Cartwright in the eighteenth century. 



In a dark, deep valley with precipitous sides 

 I came upon a picturesque tarn. From among 

 the alders which crowded its outlet arose the 

 song of a winter wren, a bird recorded by 

 Audubon at Wapitagun, possibly at the same 

 place. I did not attempt to find it in the 

 tangle; one might as well look for a mouse in 

 the same situation. The hills about, although 

 barely two hundred feet high, were mountain- 

 ous in appearance. In these rugged surround- 

 ings where it is difficult to estimate size, one 

 has often a feeling that he is looking the wrong 

 way through binoculars, and it seems much 

 more appropriate to speak of lakes and moun- 

 tains than of pools and hills. 



On my return the trill of a least sandpiper 

 was borne to my ears, and, in a quaking bog 

 where footing was most uncertain, I found 

 this charming bird indulging repeatedly in 

 the nuptial song. He would rise on whirring 

 wings like a mechanical toy and sail in irregu- 



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