TOWNSEND AND ALLEN: LABRADOR BIRDS. 
281 
red sandstone hills and cliffs, showing horizontal strata. The under¬ 
lying Laurentian rocks appear at the eastern end of the Straits. Nar¬ 
row strata of light-colored limestone appear in places. The cliffs 
at The Battery near Forteau reach a height of 350 feet; the small 
mountains immediately behind are 1100 feet high. The sandstone 
is soft and, as at Paroqueet Island, makes excellent burrowing material 
for the nests of Puffins. 
The exposed rocks of the eastern coast are largely Laurentian, cut 
by numerous basaltic dikes. Immediately back of the coast the 
land rises gradually from insignificant hills in the south to mountains 
of 6000 feet near Cape Chidley. 
The coast line itself, although showing in many places evidence of 
recent elevation in the form of raised beaches, is characteristic of a 
depressed or drowned region. This is shown by the numerous islands 
and the deep fiords, called here “ tickles;” with which the coast is beset. 
These features furnish excellent nesting sites for many water birds. 
The largest of the fiords is Hamilton Inlet, which stretches back into 
the land one hundred and fifty miles, with an average width of fourteen 
miles. Evidences of recent glaciation are shown everywhere, in the 
roclies moutonees, the glacial grooves and scratches, and the numerous 
erratics. 
In the interior, much of which is unexplored, are high tablelands, 
numerous hills, a few mountains, and a network of rivers, lakes, and 
ponds. The most noticeable of these features are the Mealy Moun¬ 
tains, the Hamilton or Grand, Nauscaupee, George, Koksoak, East 
Main, Whale, Eskimo, and Natashquan Rivers, and Mistassini, Nichi- 
cun, Petitskapau, Michikamau, Clearwater, and Indian House Lakes. 
During the long winter from October to June the lakes and rivers 
are covered with ice and the ice along the seacoast forms a solid high¬ 
way upon which the inhabitants travel on dog-sledges. Dr. W. T. 
Grenfell tells us that the breadth of this strip of solid ice along the 
eastern coast every winter is from twenty to twenty-five miles, while 
outside of this is the loose “slob” ice, which drifts back and forth 
with the winds and tides, varies greatly in thickness and density, and 
may extend fifty or more miles out to sea. In the Straits of Belle 
Isle, with their strong tides, there are generally a few open places even 
in mid-winter, and Cartwright speaks of open places near some of 
the outer islands even on the eastern coast. Even in the northern 
parts of Hudson Bay open water is to be found in places in winter. 
