78 



The Canadian Field-Naturalist 



[Vol. XXXIV. 



(3) Avoid fungi having a milky juice, unless 

 the milk is reddish., 



(4) Avoid fungi in which the cap is thin and 

 very brittle, and in which the gills are nearly 

 all of equal length, especially if the cap 

 is bright-colored. 



(5) Avoid all tube-bearing fungi in which the 

 flesh changes color when cut or broken, or 

 where the mouths of the tubes are reddish 

 and in the case of other tube-bearing fungi 

 experiment with caution. 



6) Avoid fungi having clay-colored gills and a 



spider web or woolly ring on the stalk. 

 (7) In case of doubt discard the plant. 



Mushrooms Which May Be Gathered. 



The foregoing rules are given as a warning against 

 comparatively few plants; the edible mushrooms are 

 more numerous and those that may be gathered are 

 as follows: 



All the puff balls and coral fungi; any of the 

 hedge hog or spiny fungi and the morels; also any 

 mushroom whose gills become brown ; mushrooms 

 having reddish or orange milk; all mushrooms that 

 melt down into an inky liquid when mature ; many 

 mushrooms with white gills, but care must be taken 

 to be absolutely certain that they have no poison 

 cup or volva. 



Learn to Know the Mushrooms. 



Before attempting to eat a large number of mush- 

 rooms one should learn to know them by their in- 

 dividual characters, the same as he would learn to 

 know berries or other wild fruit. The best way 

 to do this is to secure a book describing the various 



kinds and then gather the different ones and com- 

 pare them with the descriptions and illustrations. 

 Another way is to go out into the woods and fields 

 with someone who knows the mushrooms and have 

 the different kinds, both poisonous and edible, point- 

 ed out and the characters explained. 



Still another way to learn the mushrooms is as 

 follows. Carefully dig up the mushrooms so that 

 all the fruit body including the very base of the 

 stem is present. Wrap in dry paper, taking care 

 not to crush the specimen, attach a note describing 

 where the plant grew, i.e. fields, woods or road 

 side; whether it grows in the ground, or wood and 

 the color of the fresh specimen. The specimen 

 should then be enclosed in a strong cardboard 

 carton or wooden box and sent in to the Department 

 of Botany, Ontario Agricultural College, Guelph, 

 Ont. 



If the specimen is carefully packed, it will arrive 

 in fair condition and the name and properties of 

 the mushroom will be sent to you by the next mail. 



Books that Describe Mushrooms. 

 Mcllvaine, Chas. One Thousand American 

 Fungi. 



Hard, M. E. Mushrooms, Edible and Other- 

 wise. 



Atkinson, Geo. G. Mushrooms, Edible, Poison- 

 ous, etc. 



Marshall, Nina L. The Mushroom Book. 



Gibson, Hamilton Our Edible Fungi. 



Murrill, W. A. Edible and Poisonous Mush- 

 rooms. 



Stone, R. E. Mushrooms of Ontario: Ontario 

 Department of Agriculture, Bulletin No. 263. 



NOTES ON THE SUMMER BIRDS OF THE GASPE PENINSULA. 



PROVINCE OF QUEBEC. 



By Charles W. Townsend, M.D., Boston. 



In planning a trip to any spot in North America, 

 one naturally turns to the indices of the Auk and the 

 Bulletin of the Nuttall Ornithological Club in order 

 to learn what ornithological work has been done in 

 that region and what birds one may expect to find. 

 As far as I can discover there has been no list pub- 

 lished and no mention made of the birds of the Gaspe 

 Peninsula in these journals. The only notes of this 

 region published by ornithologists elsewhere that I 

 can find are by Mr. Wm. Brewster, ^ ; Mr. Frank 

 M. Chapman- and Mr. P. A. Taverner". In none 

 of these notes is there any attempt to list the birds 

 of the region, and it therefore seems worth while 

 to present the following preliminary list. The gen- 



erosity of Mr. Taverner in putting his notes, made 

 chiefly at Perce in the summers of 1914 and 1915, 

 at my disposal has made this list of much greater 

 value than if my own notes alone were to be drawn 

 upon. 



I feel sure that Mr. Taverner's work in these 

 regions has had the greatest influence in determining 



(1) Notes on the birds observed during a summer 

 cruise in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Proceedings, 

 Boston Society of Natural History, Vol. 22, pp. 

 364, 412; 1883. 



(2) Bird studies witli a camera, New York. 1900, 

 pp. 128-145. Gannets of Bonaventure, Bird Lore, 

 Vol. 1, 1899, p. 71. 



(3) The Gannets of Bonaventure Island, The Ottawa 

 Naturalist, Vol. 32, 1918, pp. 21-26. 



