Preconfederation Ornithology

The following list of birds has been compiled from the 1911 Townsend Edition entitled Captain Cartwright and his Labrador Journal supplemented by additional records from The Labrador Companion.

The list contains 44 species which appear to be acceptable records from Labrador. In two instances Cartwright notes American Black Duck and American Bittern from Newfoundland bringing the total to 46 for the Province.

Montevecchi’s Newfoundland Birds suggests a total of 47 Labrador species plus two from the island of Newfoundland bringing the total to 49. He does not provide a list which he compiled from Townsend.

There are many references to birds noted by Cartwright in his Journals. Many of these records have been omitted, not necessarily because they are incorrect, but due of lack of sufficient detail, or as pointed out by Todd, in his authoritative Birds of the Labrador Peninsula, Cartwright’s lack of familiarity with ornithological nomenclature demonstrated by his use of vulgar names rather than scientific names.

Given Cartwright’s extensive writings on raptors (Companion: 166-178) an examination of uncited material would almost certainly add to Cartwright’s bird list. Raptors noted by Lasaght and Montevecchi from Banks’s 1766 visit to Labrador, not on the Cartwright list include: Northern Harrier, Northern Goshawk, Rough-legged Hawk, Northern Hawk-Owl and Merlin.

Cartwright noted many species at family level along the southeast Labrador coast. Over a 16 year residence there is no question that he observed numerous common duck species, likely both murre and cormorants species and Herring, Iceland and Glaucous Gulls. Without additional detail these common Labrador species have been excluded.

The following is a list of what I consider acceptable records for the presence of these birds the province:

• Snow Goose*
• Canada Goose
• American Black Duck* (NF)
• King Eider*
• Common Eider
• Harlequin Duck
• Labrador Duck
• Surf Scoter
• White-winged Scoter*
• Black Scoter
• Long-tailed Duck
• Red-breasted Merganser
• Spruce Grouse
• Willow Ptarmigan
• Rock Ptarmigan
• Passenger Pigeon*
• Black-bellied Plover*
• Whimbrel
• Eskimo Curlew
• Wilson’s Snipe
• Greater Yellowlegs
• Dovekie*
• Razorbill*
• Great Auk
• Black Guillemot
• Atlantic Puffin*
• Great Black-backed Gull
• Red-throated Loon
• Common Loon
• Northern Gannet*
• American Bittern (NF)
• Bald Eagle*
• Great Horned Owl
• Peregrine Falcon
• Northern Shrike*
• Canada Jay
• Blue Jay
• Common Raven
• Horned Lark
• Tree Swallow*
• Cliff Swallow*
• American Robin
• Pine Grosbeak
• White-winged Crossbill
• Snow Bunting
• Rose-breasted Grosbeak*

Birds identified with an asterisk represent the first time they were recorded as occurring in the province, either from Labrador or the island of Newfoundland. All the records, except for the American Black Duck, establish their presence in Labrador.

Cartwright’s Birds: Discounted and Accepted Records

Cartwright’s bird records from the Townsend edition of Journal and The Labrador Companion have been examined. In some cases Townsend suggests the liklihood of the identity of numerous species. Comments and identifications based on writings from the two books are presented below. In this case I have not included page references.

Discounted Records

Sharp-tailed Grouse

Townsend suggests that a grouse which was inadequately described as tame, larger than average with a tapered tail was Sharp-tailed Grouse. The Sharp-tailed Grouse is not tame. Its eastern breeding range only extends to the James Bay lowlands of Quebec.

Common and Thick-billed Murre

There are numerous vulgar names used by Cartwright for birds on the Labrador coast such as “stranger” described in Townsend’s Glossary as “a waterfowl of the duck kind”. This may well be a Common Murre. No doubt both Common and Thick-billed Murre were noted by Cartwright but he did not distinguish between them.

American Oystercatcher

Reference to “pied-birds” has been suggested by Townsend as American Oystercatcher based partially based on Audubon’s record of 1833. Audubon did not visit Labrador. Todd was often skeptical of Audubon’s noted uneven reliance on memory and often inadequate record-keeping. American Oystercatcher is rare, much further south, in Nova Scotia. See the paper on Audubon under 19th century Quebec (not yet published).

Ivory Gull

The meagre description of a “white gull” caught in an animal trap is not sufficient to conclude that it was the rare Ivory Gull. Both Iceland and Glaucous Gulls are much more likely.

Horned Lark

“Sandlark” may well refer to the Horned Lark but without further details it is not possible to ID this bird. In Cartwright’s native Britain “Sandlark” is often associated with the Eurasian Skylark. In the circumstances it is possible that Cartwright’s bird could be confounded with the American Pipit, which according to limited eBird records, suggests is more likely in southeast Labrador than the Horned lark.

Accepted Records

Black-bellied Plover

Cartwright shot what he called a Grey Plover; it seems very likely a correct identification given the fact he could examine it in his hand and his discussion the Eskimo Curlew presented in in the Cartwright paper suggests he knows the Grey Plover from England.

Tree Swallow

Cartwright noted “swallows” on May 18th. From contemporary eBird records there are four swallow species are possible in southern Labrador: Bank, Tree, Barn and Cliff. Given the relative commonness of Tree Swallow, the uncommonness of the other three species in southeast Labrador, and the early arrival date, all strongly suggest he was observing Tree Swallows.

Cliff Swallow

In The Labrador Companion Cartwright adds further information about one of the other swallows he records, this time calling them “martins”:

Either this [martin] or a similar kind breed in Labrador but I never saw them in great numbers. I saw several nests built against a Cliff, and a few built under the upper frame of my windows  about six feet from the ground, and in the same manner as in England.

Given the fact he calls them martins, that he would have been able to distinguish them from the long-tailed Barn Swallow from England, and their nesting location, this record strongly supports the view that he is referring to Cliff Swallow.

Greater Yellowlegs

Cartwright refers to a shorebird which he calls a “nodding snipe”. Companion provides slightly more information on this bird. Given reference to the Redshank and feeding behavior similar to Greater Yellowlegs, a very common breeding bird in Newfoundland and Labrador, one can conclude that he is referring to Greater Yellowlegs:

This appears to me to be that which is called Antsary it is more of the Redshank than of a snipe. It feeds on saltwater shores above highwater-mark. 

Razorbill and Black Guillemot

In The Labrador Companion Stoop includes Cartwright’s notations from his copy of Arctic Zoology which includes details on the nesting locations of Razorbills and Black Guillemots. These birds are widely known in Newfoundland and Labrador as “tinker” and “sea pigeon” respectively:

It [Razorbill] is extremely plentiful upon the East Coast of Labrador, where as well as in  Newfoundland, the fishermen name it a Tinker. It breeds in holes in the Rocks, or under large   stones which lay hollow, makes no nest, & lays one Egg, G. C. ...are [Black Guillemot] found in Newfoundland and Labrador; breed under hollow rocks close to the shore & are there called Sea-pigeons...

Rose-breasted Grosbeak

In The Labrador Companion Pennant notations Cartwright records collecting two Rose-breasted Grosbeaks which are not mentioned elsewhere:

I have seen a few [Rose-breasted Grosbeak] in Labrador in Summer & killed a Cock and Hen    one Day.

White-winged Crossbill

Cartwright’s discussion of the feeding habits and melodious song of Crossbills clearly indicates White-winged Crossbill.