52 



The Canadian Field-Naturalist 



[Vol. XXXVI 



are heard the world around. 



Attacks by private commercial interests, such as 

 in recent years have been made repeatedly upon the 

 National Parks of the United States, are un- 

 doubtedly to be expected in Canada also. Such 

 attacks are usually disguised so as to make it 

 appear that, as water-power or irrigation projects, 

 they are in the public interest. The most innocent- 

 looking and least harmful project may be put 

 forward at first, in the hope of creating a precedent 

 which may be used for the fullest exploitation of the 

 natural resources of the Parks. 



An abundance of water is available outside of our 

 Parks for purposes of irrigation and water-power 

 development. The great incentive to carrying out 

 projects of this sort inside a National Park rather 

 than elsewhere is the hope of the private interests 

 concerned that they may be relieved of the neces- 

 sity of paying for lands flooded and other damage 

 done, which would not be the case if the damage 

 were done to privately-owned property outside of 



a Park. Attempts at commercial development and 

 exploitation of Park areas are attempts of private 

 and local interests to reap abnormal profits by 

 destroying and disfiguring the property of all the 

 people of the Dominion. 



If even one commercial project should succeed 

 in becoming established in Canada's National 

 Park system, the way would be opened for endless 

 spoliation, which would render the Parks useless for 

 the purposes for which they were set aside. All 

 who are interested in the preservation for the public 

 use and enjoyment of the grand natural beauties 

 and the wild life of Canada's most attractive regions 

 should watch carefully for any attack upon the 

 National Parks, and should be prepared to co- 

 operate fully in bringing the sentiment of the people 

 at large to bear to prevent private inroads upon 

 their property. An informed public sentiment is 

 the only effective means of meeting powerful private 

 attacks upon the public interests. Preserve the 

 National Parks I 



REVIEWS 



THE CONDOR FOR 1921. 

 No. 1, January February. 



Suggestions regarding the Systema Avium. 

 By Richard McGregor, pp. 15-18. 



This is a discussion of a new Check List now 

 under consideration that is planned as a Nearctic 

 volume to a Systema Avium. Other volumes 

 covering other geographic divisions are to be 

 prepared by British ornithologists. The sugges- 

 tions are interesting and demand full consideration 

 In this difficult compromise of conflicting ideas. 

 Whether all the proposals are to be adopted or 

 not, these ideas of a broad-minded worker may 

 assist in clarifying the problem. 



Concerning the Status of the Supposed Two 

 Races of the Long Billed Curlew. By Joseph 

 Grinnell, pp. 21-27. 



This is a discussion of the tenabiUty of the new 

 race described by Bishop (Auk. XXVII, 1910, 

 pp. 59-60), and upheld by both Oberholser and 

 Ridgway. The question as to whether parvus 

 Bishop or occidentalis Woodhouse is the proper 

 name for this form is passed over as immaterial 

 in the discussion, only the validity of the sub- 

 species itself being brought into question. The 

 investigation is based upon a series of the species 

 made in San-Luis Obispo County, California. 

 After a large series of measurements (the form 

 is separated entirely on size) and some interesting 

 illustrative graphs. Dr. Grinnell decides that they 

 show a gradual series of gradations without any 

 tendency towards grouping at the extremes, and 



the grounds of subspecific differentiation are 

 therefore, too slight for nomenclatural recognition 

 This, from such a refined "splitter" as Dr. Grinnell, 

 carries unusual weight. In connection with this 

 question the present reviewer might call at- 

 tention to two sets of eggs of this species in the 

 Victoria Memorial Museum, differing in size 

 sufficiently to represent the two proposed races, 

 but obviously from geographical considerations 

 both belonging to the postulated smaller one. 

 A typical egg from a set collected by W. Raine, 

 10 miles south of Lake Rush, Saskatchewan, 

 June 2, 1894, measures 2.8 x 1.9 inches. A typical 

 egg from the other set collected by P. A. Taverner 

 at Cypress Lake, Saskatchewan, May 24, 1921, 

 measures 2.56 x 1.78 inches. It is taken for 

 granted that they were laid by comparably sized 

 birds. These two sizes from one field near the 

 extreme extension of the range of one form largely 

 supports Dr. Grinnell's contention. 



The larger a species and the more extreme its 

 specialization, th% greater is the expected indivi- 

 dual and age variation. This is especially so in 

 species that may be regarded as overgrown 

 members of their family. The Long-billed Curlew 

 is enormous for a wader, and its bill, especially 

 lengthened and departing far from the ancestral 

 type, grows for a considerable period after appar- 

 ent maturity and is subject to great variation. 

 The Canadian prairie provinces covering the 

 ranges of the species are today well settled in 

 comparison with much of the bird's range in the 



