19141 The Ottawa Naturalist. 85 



J 



During the first year or two, the occasional use of the hoe 

 around the newly introduced plants will hasten growth, but 

 during the season of bird nesting, from May 1st to July 1st, 

 too frequent presence on the reserve is not desirable until the 

 birds have become thoroughly at home. 



A plot of ground set apart for a bird reserve and treated 

 as described above ought to begin to show practical results in 

 the second year, and it will be surprising what a tremendous 

 difference in bird numbers can be made by a little attention 

 to their needs. 



That this attention will give a substantial return in dollars 

 and cents cannot be gainsaid, Avhile for those fortunate country 

 residents who already love the birds, and desire their presence, 

 the results will be a constant joy. 



Personal inquiries on this subject are invited by the writer. 



MYOSURUS IN CANADA— I. 



By Edward L. Greene. 



Throughout the whole of Eastern North America the genus 

 Myosurus is very scantily and feebly represented, and that too, 

 in as far as our knowledge goes by the single species, M. min- 

 imus, an old world plant and the type species of the genus; 

 and this is so great a rarity here at the east as to have been 

 observed hitherto in no more than two localities, east of 

 the Ohio river. One of these stations is Belleville, in south- 

 eastern Ontario, the other Norfolk, in the extreme southeastern 

 corner of Virginia. The two stations are about 500 hundred 

 miles apart in linear distance. For none of the intervening 

 states of New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, or for any of 

 those of New England or the Maritime Provinces of Canada, 

 is there any record of Myosurus; and for further demonstra- 

 tion of the complete isolation of the plant at Belleville, let it 

 be taken note of that from that point southwestward to south- 

 central Illinois, where it occurs again, the distance is some 

 750 miles. Then measuring the distance westward and within 

 the Dominion, to where it occurs again in Assiniboia, we have 

 950, if not a round 1000 miles. 



