IN AUDUBON'S LABRADOR 



limestone Mingan Islands, and expressed mild 

 scientific skepticism when I told him I had 

 found it in former years on Battle Island and 

 other granitic and gneissoid lands. Plants as 

 well as animals do not always obey the rules. 

 I wonder whether Audubon mistook this flower 

 for a violet; he says: "A beautiful species of 

 violet was found, and I have transplanted sev- 

 eral for Lucy, but it is doubtful if they will 

 survive the journey." 



The pipit is worth more than passing men- 

 tion. Like the horned lark it is a bird of the 

 barren Arctic Zone. Its trig form and Quaker- 

 gray and brown plumage, its dovelike nods 

 in walking, and its habit of wagging the tail 

 — all make it attractive. Like the homed lark 

 it sings in the air, but a different refrain and 

 delivered in a different way. It sings as it 

 flies up obliquely to a height of perhaps two 

 hundred feet, then it turns and descends with 

 great speed, singing as it goes. The song is 

 simple, a loud che-whee, with a vibratory res- 

 onance on the whee. On one occasion I saw a 

 male alight near his mate and flutter his wings 

 excitedly; at the same time he repeated his song 

 so rapidly that it merged into one refrain. 

 ' 130 



