TOWNSEND AND ALLEN: LABRADOR BIRDS. 
333 
ton Inlet on the east coast and of Richmond Gulf on the west coast 
(Macoun, ’00). 
The northward range of this species is not fully known. Low (’06) 
found it “common everywhere in Hudson 
He speaks of shooting a number of this species and the Greenland 
Rider at Cape Fullerton at the northwest part of Hudson Bay. 
The American Eider has been much more persecuted than the 
Greenland Eider as its home country is visited every summer by the 
large fishing fleet, bearing 30,000 egg-loving individuals, from New¬ 
foundland. Besides these most of the 3,000 permanent inhabitants of 
Labrador live in its breeding range. 
The presence of Eider Ducks or indeed of any water bird in winter 
is dependent upon the presence of open water. This is clearly shown 
by Cartwright in his “Journal.” Stearns also speaks of it. In the 
Straits of Belle Isle with its strong tides, there are generally a few 
open places even in midwinter and here Eider Ducks are almost 
always to be found. 
The date of arrival of the Eider Duck in the spring depends on 
the season. Cartwright, at Cape Charles, notes March 7, 1771, 
two pairs of ducks; March 23d, “a flock of ducks looking for water”; 
April 26th, “thousands of ducks flying north.” In 1775 he notes that 
the spring is about three weeks late and he saw the first ducks (King 
Eiders) at Cape Charles on April 7th. 
Stearns says of the American Eiders: “They remain in this region 
[near Red Bay] until the last waters of the bay freeze over, and are 
then seen no more until spring returns and thaws the ice, when they 
appear in company with the King Eider. . . .which are also found 
in immense flocks, but distinct from, that is not mingling with the 
others.” Again he says: “The King Eider came first, then the Com¬ 
mon Eider.The birds at first fly in large flocks often thousands 
in a flock, and generally the different species do not mingle.” (This 
was about the first week in April.) In another place Stearns speaks 
of shooting Eiders in the spring from the edge of the ice first on April 
12th. The birds are called by whistling and there are often thousands 
in a flock. Early in October snow and ice appear on the eastern 
coast. Thus Cartwright, writing at Sandwich Bay on October 11, 
1778, says: “Winter begins to appear; the Mealy Mountains have 
put on their new liveries, and every downfall whitens the heads of 
the high hills. The deer [caribou] are beating out to the barren 
Bay and to the northward.” 
