the willow grouse bury themselves in the snow, and the
'cock of the roost' is sentinel, keeping his head above the snow to
watch for an enemy.

"The Canada goose, breeding about the lakes and ponds, is a
grass-eater, and so tastes better than the fishy, oily gulls and
divers. You can tame the goose and use it as a decoy. When a number
are shot at a time, those that can't be used right away are hung
outside the house. There they freeze, and are kept fresh all winter
long.

"There couldn't be a better retriever for a duck-hunt than the Eskimo
dog. I've watched them dash into the waves after a bird, only to be
thrown back, bruised and winded, high up on the ledges of the rock.

"Then the return wave would drag them off, and pound them against the
rocks. But the dogs would hang on for dear life, till their nails
were torn away and their paws were bleeding.

"Even that wouldn't make them quit. They would return to the charge,
and waiting for their chance they would jump right over the breaking
crest and get clear of the surf.

"When they've once got hold of a duck, nothing will make them let go.
I've often been tempted to jump in and give the brave fellows a hand,
when it seemed as if they couldn't keep up the struggle any longer.

"They'd sink out of sight in a bigger wave than usual--and then, sure
enough, you'd see the duck again, and the dog's head after it, still
true to duty even in the jaws of death. For sometimes, in spite of all
his pluck and cleverness, the dog is drowned."

XIV

BEASTS BIG AND LITTLE

Both on sea and land, Labrador animals have to be as tough as Labrador
people to stand the hard life they must lead.

Dr. Grenfell tells of a seal family he saw killed on an ice-pan about
half the size of a tennis-court.

They were surprised by four sealers, with wooden bats. Before they
gave up their lives they put up a tremendous struggle. The father seal
actually caught a club in his mouth and swung it from side to side
with such violence that the sealers had to get off the pan.

But at last he was dealt such a blow on the head that it was supposed
he was killed.

Instead of stripping off the pelt as the fallen monster lay on the
pan, the sealers hoisted him aboard the steamer "unscalped." As he was
being lifted over the rail--two thousand pounds of him--the strap
broke, and back into the sea the huge carcass splashed.

The cold water revived him.

He swam back to the pan, which was mar