1907] Dates OF Arrivals OF Birds. 113 



The unprecedented cold and backward Spring, all over the 

 northern part of this continent has been the cause of much dis- 

 cussion among weather men and the public generally, and no 

 doubt ornithologists have noticed the effect the unusual condi- 

 tions have had in the arrival of Spring birds. 



Having taken notes on the arrival of Spring birds for the 

 past fifteen years, on and between the Red Deer and Battle 

 rivers, in 113 degrees of West Longitude as a centre, I find 

 they are later this Spring than in any other year. It seems 

 strange also, that the two extremes should be reached in the 

 two years 1907 and 1906; arrivals in 1906 were earlier than in 

 anv other year since mv arrival here. 



ERUCA SATIVA. MILL. 



Mr. J. Dearness has sent from London, Ont. to the 

 herbarium of the Geological Survey specimens of Eruca sativa 

 which may become a very troublesome weed in Canada. Mr. 

 Poland, Yarmouth tow^nship, Elgin county, has written Mr. 

 Dearness that this weed came to him and to a neighbour of his 

 as an impurity in alfalfa seed, that it was scattered all over 

 the field in which the alfalfa was planted, and that when he 

 had pulled out all he could see it made a heap as large as half 

 a ton of ha}'. Later he cut the tops off plants that had been 

 missed, and these on October 15th were again making con- 

 siderable show in parts of the field. 



Since the above note was in type specimens have also 

 come to us from Mr. T. N. Willing, Chief Inspector of Weeds 

 for the Province of Saskatchewan. The seed from which these 

 plants grew came from Russia mixed with alfalfa seed. The 

 home of Eruca sativa is along the Mediterranean. It is not 

 indigenous in Russia and must be growing there as a weed. 



J. M. M. 





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