526 Letters, Extracts, Notices, &)C. 



few pairs of this bird with two nests. Unless ruthless 

 visitors have exterminated them very recently, they still 

 visit the Bermudas in the l)reeding-season. I may add that 

 the eggs, which were about the size of a small hen's egg, are 

 very smooth and shiny. Happily the Dusky Shearwater 

 has numy other breeding-haunts, so that there is no fear of 

 its universal extinction at present. But I have said enough 

 in refutation of Mr. Verrill's dogmatic statement that the 

 Cahow was certainly 7iot a Shearwater. 



Yours &c., 

 College, Durham. II. B. Tkistram. 



Sth April, 1902. 



[We regret to have been misled by Mr. Verrill. The 

 Cahow question has already been discussed in the ' Dictionary 

 of Birds' (p. 831), which we had quite overlooked. — Edd.] 



Fertilization of Plants by Birds. — We all know that insects 

 play a most imj^ortant part in the fertilization of plants, but 

 it is a more recent discovery that birds also in some cases 

 perform the same function. In a paper on New Zealand 

 Flowers read at the meeting of the Linnean Society of 

 London on February 20th last, by Mr. G. M. Thomson, 

 some observations were made on the birds wiiich visit them 

 and appear to help in cross-fertilization, e.g., the Korimako 

 {Anthornis melanura), the Grey Warbler {Gen/gone Jiavi- 

 rostris), the Pied Fantail (Rhijndura jiabellifera), and the 

 Yellow-breasted Tit {Petraca macrocephala). Of these the 

 Korimako was ascertained to assist in the fertilization of 

 the native fuchsias, on quitting which it was observed that 

 the bird had its head stained with the bright blue pollen of 

 the flowers. 



New Name for the British Wren. — We have already recorded 

 the bestowal of a new name on the British Dipper (see above, 

 p. 353), and have now a fresh surprise for our ornithological 

 friends. The British Wren, we are told, ought to be called 



