February, 1919] 



The Ottawa Naturalist 



155 



which existed at or near their confluence with the 

 greater rivers, and naturally so, for it was by that 

 route in almost every case that they were fir;t 

 reached. 



Madawaslfa. Baraga gives this as derived from 

 Matawashka, meaning the river with hay or rushes 

 it its mouth. 



This is certainly not correct as regards thi? 

 Madawaska which is a tributary of the Ottawa. At 



its mcuth the banks are comparatively high and 

 rocky and the water between them deep. At no 

 time within historic period can there ever have been 

 any growth of rushes there. 



Its deriviation is undoubtedly from "Meta or 

 Mata", denoting the forking of a river, and "Auska" 

 the sound of rippling current. 



Thus Mata Auska means "the river with a 

 rippling current at its mouth". 



BOOK NOTICES AND REVIEWS 



In defence of the crow. (A letter in the 

 Manitoba Free Press) by Norman Criddle, Trees- 

 bank, Man., Nov. 23, 1918. Republished in The 

 Canadian Forestry Journal, XIII, Dec, 1918. 



This letter is in answer to a denunciation of the 

 crow in a previous issue of the Free Press, evidently 

 calling attention to its egg-stealing proclivities in re- 

 lation to game. Mr. Criddle quite properly calls atten- 

 tion to the fact that the crow for generations lived 

 side by side with other wild life but without evident 

 serious effect upon it until man came in and assisted 

 in turning the scale. He therefore largely aquits the 

 crow with being a serious factor in the disappearance 

 of the wild game which he blames upon over-shoot- 

 ing and disregard of present laws which he regards 

 to be sufficient if enforced to restock our preserves. 

 He incidentally makes complaint of the automobile 

 which certainly is the most serious new destructive 

 agency wild life has had to face since the passing 

 of the flint-lock gun. He calls attention to Bulletin 

 621, of the U.S. Biological Survey, "The Crow 

 and its Relation to Man" (Supt. Public Documents, 

 Washington, 15 cents), and its findings as to tfie 

 value of the crow as an inesct destroyer supplement- 

 ing it with figures of his own stomach examinations. 



The crow is economically one of our most per- 

 plexing species, its good and evil traits are inex- 

 tricably intermingled. It certainly does a great 

 amount of harm, but as certainly it also does a large 

 amount of good. It is almost impossible to find out 

 just where we stand in relation to it. The fact that 

 it has cleared the grubs from his neighbour's field 

 does not satisfy him who sees an entire planting of 

 corn destroyed and the number of game bird nests 

 destroyed by the culprit staggers its sincerest apolo- 

 gist. The relation of the crow to agriculture is, 

 however, largely an academic question. The crow 

 is with us to stay and though active war has been 

 waged against it for several generations it increases 



or remains stationary according to local conditions 

 irrespective of the efforts of man. The general 

 farmer and the sportsman are too convinced of the 

 undesirability of the crow to be readily moved from 

 their belief. As the question does not seem to be 

 serious, the crow being in no danger of extinction, 

 in spite of diatribe against it, it seems the part of 

 wisdom to direct our attention to less questionable 

 subjects where the need is more pressing and our 

 influence promises to be more effective. 



P. A. T. 



Proceedings of the Entomological Society 

 OF British Columbia. This society has recently 

 published Numbers 8 and 10, Systematic Series, 

 both of which are of interest not only to students of 

 insect life within the province, but also to entomol- 

 ogists throughout North America. In Number 8 

 (30 pages), E. H. Blackmore discusses the species 

 of the genus Pero which occur in British Columbia, 

 and in addition gives ".Further additions to the list of 

 British Columbia Geometridse; R. C, Treherne tells 

 of the occurrence of Clutops singularis in B, C, 

 and Mr. G, O. Day has a paper in "Larva Rear- 

 ing." In Number 10 (31 pages), W. Downes presents 

 "Notes on the Lepidoptera of the Northern Oka- 

 nagan; J. W. Cockle discusses larval hibernation 

 and the movement of Boreas in snow; E. H. Black- 

 more, "Notes on Geometridae new to B. C. (2 

 plates), and Dr. A. E. Cameron, "Fossil Insects," 

 with special reference to those of the Tertiary lake 

 deposits of the Similkameen valley, B.C. In ad- 

 dition, Mr. Treherne publishes an obituary notice of 

 Tom Wilson who possessed a wide knowledge of 

 natural history, particularly of the province of 

 British Columbia, and whose sad death in a dis- 

 astrous fire at Coquihalla Hotel, Hope, B.C., 

 on March 16, 1917, was a distinct loss to field- 

 naturalists generally. A. G. 



