V °™ YI ] General Notes. 427 



Destruction of Sea Birds in Labrador. — The following extract 

 from a letter received from Dr. Robert T. Morris of New York City, is 

 deserving of wide publicity and is therefore placed before the readers of 

 ' The Auk.' 

 " ' Dear Dr. Townsend, 



Your treatment of the subject of conservation in Labrador in the book, 

 " In Audubon's Labrador," which I have read with great interest, meets 

 with my approval or more than that. On my trips to the Gulf Coast of 

 Labrador and on the eastern coast as far north as Hamilton Inlet I observed 

 that the Newfoundland codfishermen were in the habit of raiding all of 

 the islands and adjacent mainlands on Sunday and making away with the 

 eggs and the young of all of the seabirds. Some of the islands were wholly 

 deserted so far as bird life was concerned and your Captain Joncas told me 

 that in addition to the Newfoundland fishermen a number of men were 

 engaged in the business of egging and that the eggs were preserved in brine 

 and sold to the crews of various vessels. He said that the egg hunt was 

 continued until such a late date in the season that the young birds 

 which were finally hatched were not strong enough to withstand the autumn 

 storms and he had seen thousands of young birds thrown up on the beaches. 

 When I have been on the coast the Newfoundland fishermen not only 

 destroyed young birds and the eggs but they shot many of the mother birds 

 for sport, leaving them where they fell on the ground if they were of species 

 not good to eat. 



The waste of food fish also is very great along the Labrador coast. 

 Small cod and hake which are not desired by the fishermen are often 

 smothered in traps or killed when the traps are emptied and I have seen 

 them floating for miles on the surface when the trappers were at work. 

 The cod trappers catch a great many adult salmon by setting their nets 

 in the channels when the salmon first make their way toward the rivers. 

 This is illegal but is winked at by the officials. A remarkable waste of 

 salmon occurs in September when the herring nets are used near the coast. 

 This is the time of year when the smelts are descending from the rivers 

 and putting out to sea. They are captured in quantities in the herring 

 nets." — Charles W. Townsend, Boston, Mass. 



Specific Names in the Nominative Case.— It is a satisfaction to 

 receive corroboration of the Hirundo erythrogaster ruling from Dr. Dwight, 

 with his most timely citation of the International Code definition of the 

 sort of words that may be used as specific names (see Auk, XXXVI, 1919, 

 p. 117). It is curious, however, that he should reverse his stand when it 

 comes to the subspecific name salicarius. In this connection I have again 

 appealed to my senior colleague, Professor W. A. Merrill, head of the Latin 

 department of the University of California. Professor Merrill assures me 

 that although the word salicarius is not to be found in any Latin diction- 

 ary, it is "in good Latin form " and may be considered either as a noun, 

 meaning " something which has to do with a willow tree," or as an adjec- 



