1870.] DAWSON — ON EARTHQUAKE OF OCT. 20, 1870. 289 



consequent tension of the earth's crust, and this connected with 

 the ascertained slow subsidence of the coast, and perhaps with 

 slight elevation of the interior of the continent. 



In a notice of the earthquake in Silliman''s Journal, for Jan- 

 uary, 1871, by Mr. A. C. Twining, the following statement occurs 

 with reference to the intensity of the shocks at Bay St. Paul and 

 Les Eboulements — *' They are in general conformity to what has 

 long been known to British geologists, respecting the volcanic 

 character of the region specified," with some other remarks based 

 on this strange statement, which has actually no foundation in 

 fact, other than the junction, at those places, of the Laurentian 

 and Lower Silurian rocks, and the occurrence of thick beds of 

 Post-pliocene clay, resting on inclined rock surfaces, and there- 

 fore very liable to slip. Captain Bonnycastle's ideas on the sub- 

 ject, referred to by Mr. Twining, were probably founded merely on 

 the irregular contour of the surface, the occurrence of crystalline 

 Laurentian rocks, and the exaggerated accounts of land-slips in 

 previous earthquakes, contained in the memoirs of the Jesuits. 



iJToTE. — A slight shock of Earthquake was felt at Uawkesbury on the 

 Ottawa, on the 3id January. Dr. Smallwood states that, though not 

 appreciable at Montreal, it was indicated by the Seismometer. 



NOTES OX THE BIRDS OF NEWFOUNDLAND. 



By Henry Reeks, F.L.S., &c. 

 ( Continued from page ]59J 



Tetraonid^. 



Canada Grouse, or Spruce Partridge, T etrao csiuadensis, Linn. 

 — A very rare and uncertain visitor from the mainland : two 

 killed, and two others seen by the settlers during my residence 

 at Cow Head. 



Willow Grouse, Lagoi[i\isa\hus(Gmelin), — Common throughout 

 the year, and the only lowland or subalpine species indigenous to 

 Newfoundland. From my own experience I think the willow 

 grouse invariably roost on the ground, although I have frequently 

 shot them when feeding in the tops of birch and alder trees, more 

 't'OL. Y. T No. 3. 



