N 



ovember, 



1919] 



The Canadian Field-Naturalist 



101 



Trtorchis Kaup. This would change the accepted 

 name of both our Roughlegs. 



In the Division of Correspondence, P. A. Taver- 

 ner writes urging that caution be used in identifying 

 birds subspecifically by either geography or sHght 

 characters alone cdvccating, except where the case 

 is clear or indisputable, that the specific binomial 

 be used leaving subspecific status open until such 

 times as more evidence is available. This is re- 

 plied to by Witmer Stone, the editor, with a quali- 

 fied assent, but advancing a negative argu- 

 ment that the present reviewer (the author of the 

 original letter) regards as dodging the question. 



Information of peculiar interest to us is the report 

 upon the J. H. Fleming, Toronto, Ontario, col- 

 lection of birds, on page 321, which is also copied 

 by the Ibis for July. It reads: 



"This is one of the largest private collections 

 and covers the birds of the entire world a most 

 commendable feature. We learn that it comprises 

 about 25,000 specimens representing 5,377 species 

 and 1 ,925 genera, as recognized in Sharpe's Hand 

 List.* When we note that there are, according to 

 this authority, some 17,000 species of birds and 

 2,647 genera, we realize that Mr. Fleming has 

 about one-third of the known species and three- 

 fourths of the genera represented, the latter being 

 evidence of the painstaking care that he has ex- 

 ercised in bringing together this notable series of 

 specimens." 



This is one of the really notable private collec- 

 tions in English-speaking America; in some direc- 

 tions, as in the thoroughness with which it covers 

 its broad field, equalling or even outranking those 

 of the larger American museums. 



The gathering of this monumental series has been 

 results of a life time and if the future Canadian 

 student of ornithology in its broader aspects, finds 

 the working tools for his investigations within this 

 Dominion it will be entirely due to Mr. Fleming's 

 efforts. 



This is by far the largest collection of birds in 

 Canada, outranking even in mere point of numbers 

 its nearest rival, that of the Museum of the Geolog- 

 ical Survey at Ottawa, representing the Dominion 

 Government's national collections, which though 

 practically confined to the Canadian field, numbers 

 barely 14,000 specimens. Whilst these figures may 

 seem large to the unitiated they are really small in 

 comparison with the more notable collections abroad. 

 There are a number of private collections in the 

 United States ranging in the neighborhood of 

 60,000. The collection of the United States Na- 

 tional Museum, a comparable institution to ours, 

 has, exclusive of large collections of the Biological 

 Survey which are practically amalgamated with it, 



reached 200,000, whilst the British Museum 

 bird collections passed the half-million milestone ten 

 years ago. These comparative figures are merely 

 given here to indicate that while Canada may be 

 congratulated on having made a healthy start in 

 this branch of scientific investigation, she has still 

 a long way to go before she can compete on a par 

 with other countries which have had a longer start 

 in the field of zoological research. 



P. A .Taverner. 



Wild Animals of Glacier National Park. 

 The Mammals, with notes on Physiography and 

 Life Zones, by Vernon Bailey, Chief Field Natur- 

 alisi. Bureau of Biological Survey, Department of 

 Agriculture. The Birds, by Florence Merriam 

 Bailey, author of Handbook of Birds of the West- 

 ern United States. Dept. of the Interior, Franklin 

 K. Lane, Secretary. National Park Service, 

 Stephen T. Mather, Director. Washington: Gov- 

 ernment Printing Office, 1918. (Pp. 1-210, with 

 21 halftone plates of mammals and 16 of birds, 18 

 text figures of mammals, and 78 of birds. Copies 

 may be procured from the Superintendent of Docu- 

 ments, Government Printing Office, Washington, 

 D.C., at 50 cents per copy). 



Glacier National Park lies in northwestern Mon- 

 tana, along the main range of the Rocky Moun- 

 tains, the "Continental Divide," from the Canadian 

 boundary, where it adjoins one of our own Cana- 

 dian national parks, the Watertcn Lakes Park, on 

 the north, to the line of the Great Northern Rail- 

 way on the south. Glacier Park, though one of 

 the more recently established United States parks, 

 is rapidly becoming famous as a region of great 

 scenic beauty, celebrated by painters and photo- 

 graphic artists. The present volume is a praise- 

 worthy effort of the United States park manage- 

 ment, during the recent turning of the movement of 

 vacation tourists to "See America First," resulting 

 in many new visitors to the national parks, to set 

 forth some of the less known natural advantages of 

 these great national playgrounds to a large and 

 constantly growing class of people. The scenic 

 mountain-peaks, icy glaciers, and mirroring lakes 

 scarcely need to be pointed cut, but other fascinating 

 possibilities are not so obvious. Interest in wild 

 life is growing everywhere, and nothing adds to the 

 interest of our parks more than glimpses of ani- 

 mated life. A few squirrels or sprightly chip- 

 munks obviously add a touch of life even to a 

 city park, and a sight of the picturesque and rapidly 

 disappearing large game animals of the Rockies in 

 their native habitat is worth going far to see. Soon 

 the parks may be the only place where we shall 

 have this privilege. 



