134 



The Ottawa Naturalist 



[Vol. XXXII. 



searches we are in a much better position to elucidate must refer all who are interested in the genus Junco 



the snarl. I have not the space in which to go to the paper itself. 



into the details of his many valid conclusions, but P. A. Taverner. 



NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS. 



Re Sight Identifications. The following is 

 from the pen of that veteran ornithologist, Wm. 

 Brewster, whose status as Dean of American orni- 

 thology is unchallenged. It appears in his Birds 

 of the Cambridge Region, Memoirs of the Nuttall 

 Ornithological Club, No. IV, Cambridge, Mass., 

 1906, Preface, pp. 5-6. 



"My early training and experience have lead me 

 to believe that with certain exceptions to be specified, 

 the occurrence of birds in localities or regions lying 

 outside their known habitats should not be regarded 

 as definitely established until actual specimens have 

 been taken and afterwards determined by competent 

 auihcri.ies. No doubt it is becoming more and more 

 difficult to live up to this rule because of the ever- 

 increasing and, in the main, wholesome, popular feel- 

 ing against the killing of birds for whatever purpose. 

 Nevertheless I cannot admit that the mere observa- 

 tion of living birds met with in localities where they 

 do not properly belong, or where they have not been 

 ascertained to occasionally appear, should often be 

 considered as establishing anything more than possible 

 or probable instances of occurrence according to 

 the weight and character of the evidence." 



"Exceptions to the rule may and indeed should 

 be made in the cases of species which like the Turkey 

 Vulture, the Swallow-tailed Kite, and the Cardinal, 

 are easily recognized at a distance and which are 

 reported by persons known to have had previous 

 familiarity with the birds in life. Sight identifica- 

 tions of species somewhat less distinctly characterized 

 than these just mentioned, if mcde under favourable 

 conditions by observers of long field experience and 

 tried reliability, may also sometimes be accepted with 

 entire confidence. But on no authority, however 

 good, should a mere field observation of any bird 

 that is really difficult to identify, be taken as estab- 

 lishing an important primal record." 



It may also be said that Dr. J. A. Allen, another 

 of our old veterans of ornithology whose standing 

 is beyond question, in reviewing the above work in 

 the Auk, XXIII, 1906, p. 470, heartily endorses the 

 above. After quoting the substance of the above, he 

 remarks : 



"This is the basis of the author's rulings in the 

 present paper a proper and the only safe basis in 

 view of the present day method of numerous 

 amateur observers, who are too often burdening 

 ornithological literature with ill-advised records." 



It may be added that the editorial policy of The 

 Ottawa Naturalist agrees heartily with these 

 sentiments. We ourselves have many sight records 

 which we are morally certain are correct but with- 

 out specimens, except under the most exceptional 

 circumstances, we do not feel justified in publishing 

 them as more than hypothetical and then only with 

 as many details in substantiation as possible that 

 the reader may judge for himself of their sufficiency. 



P. A. Taverner. 



Origin of place names in Ottawa Valley. I 

 was much interested in the note by Mr. Douglas in 

 The Ottawa Naturalist for November, 1918, 

 regardmg the origin of the name Gatineau as applied 

 to Gatineau River. While a very reasonable con- 

 clusion as far as it goes, there still seems to me some 

 reason to doubt the connection between cause and 

 effect in this case, owing to the vagueness of the 

 prcof that Monsieur Gatineau ever reached the river 

 said to be named after him. 



This doubt of mine is strengthened by the fact 

 that I was given a very different derivation of the 

 name by the late Mr. Lindsay Russell, who was for 

 many years Surveyor General for Canada. He had 

 an intimate knowledge of all the Ottawa tributaries, 

 particularly the Gatineau and their peoples and to 

 my personal knowledge a very considerable 

 familiarity with their language. 



He told me that the name Gatineau was Indian, 

 that it was derived from the Cree word Etinos, 

 meaning "The People"; i.e., the people of any par- 

 ticular district, and means "the river of the people", 

 who lived in its territory. Might not this to some 

 extent account for the Wright's spelling it Gatineau. 



He also told me that one of the large tributaries 

 marked on the map as Jean de Terre was wrongly 

 so marked, as the original name was "Les Gens de 

 la Terre" and was a literal translation of the name 

 of the main river. 



As to the G. sound beginning the name, anyone 

 who IS interested in Indian languages knows how 

 prcne they are to throw around their consonants 

 loosely, as witness Mitchi, Kitchi, Gitchi, each mean- 

 ing great, or grand, and Nippi, Tibbi, and Sibbi, a 

 body of water, and all in use in the same district. 

 This was probably due to the language not being a 

 written one. 



Armon Burwash, Arnprior, Ont. 



