Volume I Part 24 (2/2)

The bird here noted may have been either this species, or the _Aquila chrysaetus_.--E. C.

[224] See Episode ”A Labrador Squatter.”

[225] Or Labrador Duck, _Camptolaemus labradorius_. This is a notable record, considering that the species became extinct about 1875.--E. C.

[226] This is the White-winged Coot or Scoter just mentioned above, _[OE]demia deglandi_.--E. C.

[227] Brown or Northern Phalarope.

[228] The Curlew which occurs in almost incredible numbers in Labrador is the Eskimo, _Numenius borealis_; the one with the bill about four inches long, also found in that country, but less commonly, is the Hudsonian, _N. hudsonicus_. See Coues, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci., Philada., 1861, p. 236.--E. C.

[229] Pomarine Jager, or Gull-hunter, now called _Stercorarius pomarinus_.--E. C.

[230] A small village on the coast of Labrador, lat.i.tude 51; _not_ the Bras D'Or of Cape Breton Island.

[231] _Empetrum nigrum._

[232] The Purple or Rock Sandpiper, _Tringa (Arquatella) maritima_.--E. C.

[233] Not _Ereunetes pusillus_, but the Least Sandpiper, _Tringa (Actodromas) minutilla_, which appears as _Tringa pusilla_ in Audubon's works.--E. C.

[234] This is the bird figured by Audubon as _Falco labradora_ on folio pl. 196, 8vo pl. 19, but which he afterward considered to be the same as his _F. islandicus_. It is now held, however, to represent a dark variety of Gyrfalcon, known as _F. gyrfalco obsoletus_, confined to Labrador and thence southward in winter to New England and New York.--E. C.

[235] Sheep laurel.

[236] See Episode, ”A Ball in Newfoundland.”

[237] Dr. George Parkman, of Boston, who was murdered by Professor J.

W. Webster in Boston, November 23, 1849.

[238] See Episode, ”The Bay of Fundy.”

THE MISSOURI RIVER JOURNALS

1843

INTRODUCTION

This journey, which occupied within a few days of eight months,--from March 11, 1843, to November 6 of the same year,--was undertaken in the interest of the ”Quadrupeds of North America,” in which the three Audubons and Dr. Bachman were then deeply engaged. The journey has been only briefly touched upon in former publications, and the entire record from August 16 until the return home was lost in the back of an old secretary from the time of Audubon's return in November, 1843, until August, 1896, when two of his granddaughters found it. Mrs.

Audubon states in her narrative that no record of this part of the trip was known to exist, and none of the family now living had ever seen it until the date mentioned.

Not only is the diary most valuable from the point of view of the naturalist, but also from that of the historian interested in the frontier life of those days.

M. R. A.

As the only account of the journey from New York to St. Louis which can now be found is contained in a letter to my uncle Mr. James Hall, dated St. Louis, March 29, 1843, the following extract is given:--

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