272 



NATURE 



[Al'Kll. 2-], 191 I 



IIk , , .l:ll|. 



lUIIIH'l KM 



ing point, .111(1, .IS 



\v;iii(]ii(i s I'll mi oth 



l.iii is lli.ii ii is 



.uliuiMli 1\- lllr \'.ii; 



Mi.it ir ri 

 .. ., ;c-.sicl<-p: 

 itus— if ' 

 Mt:th h.'is 



uccahioiiall\ 

 !mpo«;siblp 



soillr 



11 s i n l' 



..f (.Ml llild. 



■<ticii .1 iiiinili 



1 . 1 1 1 1 s 1) - 



birds, 

 uicur. The 

 to indicate 



• Mts nf 

 . illldlll 



iil(i ni:ik'' till- 



JCIIK ll 



-!' 



■-;lat iM i- 



111,' .M- 



sini[)l\', 

 , .11 id .1 ■ 

 iffcriiii 



~niii 



i- iiiilndi (1 1)V ii.iine but 



\\ li.iii \iT iliis hiirl roallv 



tli.it ot llir (-oniiiKin i;iiiilc- 



nti iccj licii' .Is ,1 ^iiiiiiiiiT 



is ;i winicr xisitm- tu in l.uul ;ii all 



(iriiiL; .hkI .itituinii niii^'^rant to England. 



• is w.-uitint::- to the migration of the 



.li.mk 



mot. 

 visiioi- 

 ovriils 

 Soiiif 



ringed plovi-r ami to tlir sni.ill li.irk iniiJ;r,U(irv race, 

 regarded by some as a ^ood .subspecies, 'ih. r! lim of 

 the stone curlew to be a resident is rem.ni 11 



and npphVs to one locality onlv. .\ qu.iiiiN m- nuir 

 in tile ease of the little ])illr!-ii niii^lit wrll linvo ex- 

 pres.sed the strong suspicion entertained of its former 

 and recent breeding, and of its claim to be a rare 

 summer visitor. The willow tit is not a subspecies of 

 V. bnrealis but of P. atricapillus. of which P. borealis 

 is itself a form. The occurrence of the latter is 

 doubtful in the extreme. The tawny pipit is put in 

 column 4 indicating that it "used to breed," with a 

 note that it had bred in Sussex. But there is only 

 one record of its ever doini^ so, and the reference 

 given is to a local publication not generally available. 

 Yet the wood sandpiper is relegated to the society of 

 those that do not breed, and there is no mention of its 

 undoubted former breeding in Northumb(Tland. The 

 shorelark is probably as regular a visitor as the Lap- 

 land bunting-, yet they occupy pl.iei s in 5 and 3 re- 

 spectively. If the little owl (.1 wrak candidate for 

 the position of casual visitor until its introduction in 

 large numbers) is to be called a "resident," there 

 seems no reason for withholding the position from 

 other introduced species which breed freelv with us, 

 and, given adequate protection, might maintain a wild 

 existence in this country. The introduction is duly 

 noted. 



With regard to common names, great confusion 

 might well arise from the quite unnecessary bestowal 

 of the name "eared," as an alternate name, upon the 

 Sclavonian grebe, for until recmt years what is now 

 generally called the black-necked grebe bore that name 

 almost always. The pass to which the continual 

 alteration of the Latin names of birds has brouq^ht 

 us (by the raking up of ancient, doubtful, and little- 

 known names under the plea of the law of priority) is 

 well set before us in the present list by the fact that 

 in order to show us exactly w hat bird is intended as 

 the black-eared wheatear no tcwcr tlian live specific 

 names (with their authorities) have been used for it 

 and set down as synonyms; the one selected as 

 the bird's right name (at the present moment !) being 

 one which was long borne by another species I Thus 

 is confusion worse confounded. 



A new list of British birds was wanted, and the 

 NO. 2165, VOL. 86] 



presfiit (iiii- is ilc.irlv ; 

 's "riuled un one side <-' 

 >>om for additions 



: v may like to n 



.d well got-ui 



////■ ' 



N.w7 ll ililily iiiui 

 I I. Il(.|jkin-. 



/' ' 



1'; 



ilv rh 



/ WEALTH. 



( iinn :iiifl ( ' 



( \iv:ii. IK) 



liy Prof. 

 i.undon and 

 • <s. 6d, 



from the agricul- 

 Up to 



ll nas (iipenUcd 



1)R()1''. ( \lv:il. llol'KIN's Illinois Agrj- 



1 (-uliiii.il st.iiiwi,, is ■, • ■ • ''!»■' United 



Sl.'ites ;is tin; iniii.iiur <■: -licy for 



iistoriiu' till- I.Tiilitv (if iin l.inu 01 uie east and 

 iirukllc wi-i. ubicli is in in;niy rc.sp<^;cts a supplement 

 to till- -I- ving the national resources 



that till I , ictdid in bringing home 



to the Americ.'in jjublie. 



The problem is one quite distinri 

 lur.il tjiicsiiiiii^ priA'.iiliii;^ in v.' 

 till- |)i'(si-iu tinu- ;iliiuist, ■• 

 Anieric.-in at^rieuli urc lias ■ 

 ti r ;md wasteful in its metlioUs. 

 entinh upon the n.itural resources of the soil, and 

 in ni.iiu districts has only succeeded in exhausting" 

 ihrin. In \ iiyinia. in New ICngland, and in many 

 of the oldi I States one may see great areas of in- 

 different farming and even of derelict land; land 

 which has been cropped without due refgard to the 

 future until it has ceased to be profitable with r'^- o>..i.v 

 of farmini^' there in vogue and is now occuj 

 b\- ei>m[).iraii\(l\ backward cultivators, who draw 

 bur the |Muirest livint^ from the soil. Even of the- 

 rich prairie l.tnds nf the middle west, in Illinois, 

 Iowa, and Ohio, notwithstanding the enormous stock- 

 of plant food present in the soil when it was first 

 taken into cuhivalion, a similar story is told. The 

 yields on mucli of the land are declining, and the 

 tendency on the part of the enterprising men to move 

 west to the virgin soil has been very prominent of 

 late in the migration of American farmers into those 

 parts of western Canada that have lately been opened 

 out. 



With certain conspicuous exceptions i. : ican 



farmer has alwavs been raising a succession of crop;, 

 which drew u])on the resources of the soil; wheat has 

 been alternated with corn and Timothy hay, and 

 each crop has ix i n either sold away from the farm 

 or consumed in the great barns in which the stock 

 are housed through the severe winters. In many 

 cases the shortage of labour has prevented men from 

 even restoring" to the land the manure made by the 

 stock, while no root crops are grown and no sheep 

 are kept to run over the land and restore to the soil 

 the fertilising ingredients that have been drawn from 

 it by the fodder crops. And though the fertiliser 

 trade in the United States is of enormous dimensions, 

 it is too much confined to a relatively small class of 

 intensive farmers, and does not represent a very large 

 outlay on the total area of land under cultivation. 

 Thus in many respects the condition of farming has 

 been similar to that prevailing in Europe before the 

 introduction of artificial fertilisers, that is to sav. 



