s glad!--all his compunction
drowned in the pleasure of connecting himself, even through the gates of
death, with a youthful fascination.

It now occurred to me--and the conjecture proved correct--that these
plats of shrubbery must serve as hiding-places for the duck. The
Canadians, whose behavior was all along mysterious, had forborne to give
us any hint. I was vexed at them then, but had no reason perhaps. This
was their larder, which they could not wish to impoverish. Besides,
fishermen and visitors on this coast are so sweeping and ruthless in
their destructions, that one might reasonably desire to protect the
birds against them. It is not so much by shooting the birds as by
destroying their eggs that the mischief is done. A party will take
possession of an island at night, carry off every egg that can be found,
and throw it into the sea,--then, returning next forenoon, take the
fresh eggs laid in the mean time for food. On the whole, I feel less
like blaming our guides than like returning to make apologies. Yet to us
also the ducks are necessary, for we have no fresh meat but such as our
guns obtain; and to one seeking health, this was a matter of some
serious moment.

The elder Canadian has also shot a duck, and, besides, a red-breasted
diver, a noble bird; and with these prizes we set sail for another
island, frequented by "Tinkers." The day meanwhile had cleared, the sun
shone richly, and we began to see somewhat of the glory, as well as
grimness, of Labrador. Away to the southwest, eminent over the lesser
islands, rose Mecatina, all tossed into wild billows of blue, with
purple in the hollows; while to the north the hills of the mainland
lifted themselves up to hold fellowship with it in height and hue.

"Tinker," we found, meant Murre and Razor-Billed Auk. These are finely
shaped birds, black above and white below, twice the size of a pigeon,
and closely resembling each other, save in the bill. That of the murre
is not noticeable; but the other's is singularly shaped, and marked with
delicate, finely cut grooves, the central one being nicely touched with
a line of white, while a similar thread of white runs from the bill to
the eye.

I notice it thus, because it suggested to me a reflection. Looking at
this bill, I asked myself how Darwin's theory comported with it. "The
struggle for life,"--are all the forms of organic existence due to that?
But how did the struggle for life cut these grooves, paint these