March i6, 191 i] 



NATURE 



horse and rides the distance. So far as the upper 

 part of the bod}^ is concerned, the breadth of shoulder 

 and great back and arm muscles demand admira- 

 tion, but the lower limbs are not proportionately 

 strong. 



From the Andes and treeless plains of Patagonia 

 Mr. Prichard whisks the reader to the wildest parts 

 of Labrador and of Newfoundland, After that we 

 have a digression dealing with moose (elk) hunting in 

 Norwa}^ distinctly interesting by the juxtaposition of 

 the scenery, ilora and fauna of that country with the 

 north-eastern parts of British North America. Mr. 

 Prichard attempts to show by his illustrations and 

 explanations — or leads us to infer — that a specific 

 difference exists between the elk of northern Europe 

 and the elk of North iVmerica, which is cited as Alces 

 americanus. But we fancy that zoologists do not 

 claim a full specific difference between these creatures, 

 widely as their habitats are separated at the present 

 day. If the reviewer's memory is correct, Mr. 

 Lydekker himself only claims for the very marked 

 variety of elk in north-eastern Asia the position of a 

 subspecies, Alces machlis bedfordiae ; and there is dis- 

 tinctly less difference in antlers and other features 

 between the elk of North America and that of Scan- 

 dinavia, except that no doubt during the last hundred 



years or so the antlers of the last-named have degene- 

 rated, owing to the persecution of the species at the 

 hands of the hunters. . Nevertheless, the present 

 difference in size between the Canadian and Nor- 

 wegian elks is well illustrated by the photographs 

 here reproduced. 



Very interesting, and in some respects novel, in- 

 formation is given about the Canadian elk. Mr. 

 Prichard, quoting other authors, touches on the dis- 

 coverv of the gigantic subspecies of elk in that country 

 of marvels, Alaska, the home of the biggest existing 

 bear, the biggest wild dog or wolf (Canis pam- 

 basileus), and of the biggest elk (A. m. gigas), a 

 monster with palmated antlers measuring 76 inches in 



■contradistinction to the 40 inches of an exceptionally 

 lood head in Norway, and the average 50 inches of 

 "Canada. 



Some splendid heads of caribou (Canadian 

 reindeer) were secured by Mr. Prichard and his com- 

 )anion, Mr. Gathorne Hardy. Admirable photo- 

 Jraphic illustrations are supplied to illustrate the 



^cenery of Newfoundland, a country still all too little 

 cnown to adventurous travellers seeking for varied 



fphases of landscape beauty. We are made to realise 

 the desolateness of Labrador and yet the charms of 



pts solitude. 



" A little lake . . . lay some two miles to the north- 

 ifest of our camp. Surrounded by trees and seemingly 



>f great depth, it presented the appearance of an un- 

 Ifathomable pit sunk into the roots of the hills. The diver 

 sand her brood called ceaselessly upon its waters, bringing 

 tbac.k to memory the beautiful and poetic words of 

 ISaltatha, the Yellowknife Indian : ' You say the Kingdom 

 |«f Heaven is good, my father, but tell me, is it better 

 ^than the land of the musk-ox in summer, when the lakes 



ire sometimes misty and sometimes blue, and the loons 



cry often ? That is good, my father, and if Heaven is 

 Ibetter, I shall be willing to dwell there until I am very, 

 [Very old.' Besides the loon two ospreys haunted the 

 llake, sometimes fishing in the shallow stream which fed 



it, sometimes winging their way over it and out into the 



blue distance towards the sea." 



Elsewhere in the book there are pen portraits, un- 

 consciously given, of the different guides, hunters, 

 and trackers associated with Mr. Prichard or his com- 

 panions, some of Newfoundland, some of Labrador, 

 and one or two of Maine (Ignited States) origin. In 

 every case, these simple, virile, honest natures are 



NO. 2159, VOL. 86] 



brought home to us with their quaint diction, shrewd 

 faces, and slovenly clothing, and we realise what good 

 stuff there must be in the manhood of North America. 

 The Mikmak Indians of Newfoundland (recent comers 

 and settlers from the adjoining coasts of Cape 

 Breton and Nova Scotia) are also illustrated verbally 

 and by photography. Mr. Prichard justly points out 

 that it .-is sentimental nonsense allowing Indians 

 greater privileges in the w-ay of game destruction 

 than are accorded to white men. All alike are citizens 

 of British North America, enjoying the same privi- 

 leges and subject to the same laws, and it would be 

 no satisfaction to the zoologists of the next genera- 

 tion to be told that the big game was destroyed in 

 Newfoundland by Indians and not by white men. 



Altogether this is one of the most attractive and 

 informative works on the big game of the New World 

 which the present reviewer has had the pleasure of 

 reading. The coloured illustrations by Mr. E. G. 

 Caldwell are of remarkable excellence, worthy of Mr. 

 J. G. Millais. Besides being beautiful pictures, they 

 are absolutely truthful, not only in the delineation of 

 beasts, but in the botany of the background. Two of 

 Lady Helen Graham's drawings also deserve special 

 mention ; one, of a scene in the Patagonian Andes 

 with guemal deer in the foreground, and another, a 

 study of a bull elk being surprised at night bv the 

 light of a lantern. H. H. Johnston. 



THE FANCY FEATHER TRADE.^ 

 TN Nature for December 15, 1910, we reviewed 

 ■*■ "Aigrettes and Bird-skins," a book written in 

 defence of the bird-plume dealers, in which the name of 

 Mr. C. F. Downham was cited frequently as a witness 

 for the "defendants." This gentleman now appears 

 before us as further counsel on the same side in an 

 address under the second title of " Some Facts and 

 Fallacies in Connection with the Trade in Fancy 

 Feathers," delivered before the London Chamber of 

 Commerce in November last. Part of it has been 

 published as an article in the National Review ; 

 "The Feather Trade : The Case for the Defence," is 

 an amplified edition. In the number of Nature just 

 referred to — which may be read in connection with 

 the present observations — we strongly expressed our 

 disagreement with the arguments then put forward. 

 Our view we find independently supported by the 

 Madras Mail of September last, which says that 

 " ' Aigrettes and Bird-skins ' will evoke little sym- 

 pathy in India. Indeed, it wouljj more probably be 

 read with feelings of derision and ridicule on account 

 of its erroneous and fallacious arguments were its 

 subject not so pathetic." 



These words seem to us to sum up very tersely 

 the further defence made by Mr. Downham, who, as 

 managing director of one of the plume-importing 

 firms, can hardly be considered an entirely dis- 

 interested advocate. In years past the defence set 

 up by the trade was that the "aigrettes" were 

 artificial, and all the plumassiers' saleswomen were 

 directed to inform tender-hearted buyers that this was 

 really so. Ornithologists were able, however, to nail 

 this deception to the counter so effectually that it 

 had to be abandoned. In its steaid arises now the 

 equally spurious statements that they are taken out 

 of the" nests, where they form a bed for the eggs ; 

 and that in vast heronries in S. America, in Venezeula 

 in particular — whence the largest export comes — 



1 "Some Facts and Fallacirs in Connection with the Trade in Fancy 

 Feathers." A P.-iper read at the London Chamber of Commerce in November, 

 1910, by C. F. Downham. Pp. 126. (London Chamber of Commerce, 

 Oxford Court, Cannon Street.) Price M. net. 



" The Pros and Cons of the Plumage Bill." A Letter. By James Bucl<- 

 land, of the Royal Colonial Institute. 



