362 Alexander Goodman More. 



perience of the inaccuracy and over-confidence of untrained 

 naturalists generally. But there was no lesson which he 

 was fonder of impressing than that of caution, and for this 

 old theme convenient texts frequently came to hand. A 

 preserved Owl supposed to have been obtained in Ireland 

 is alluded to in one letter : 



The Owl has arrived, and I find it is a New Zealand species (Ninox 

 Novae -Zelandiae) ; so that evidently some mistake has occurred, or 



mixture of specimens, and I have written to ask Mr. to try and 



clear up the matter. Is not this one more caution how careless some 



people are in keeping their specimens ? Mr. must evidently be 



a valuable correspondent to have sent you so much useful information, 

 and the mistake about the history of the Owl is none of his doing. 



About another reported rare bird : " Of course, all 

 the ladies are wrong. But this is only one instance of 

 the monstrous blunders which are constantly being made 

 by uninstructed beginners. All you can do in such cases 

 is to insist upon seeing a specimen; and do not believe 

 what such people tell you." 



Regarding some notes by a deceased observer : 



" Beware ! I pray you, of . His records are not reliable. 



You will find, I think, the Blue Jay of Canada, and the 

 Australian Membranous Duck. There is, too, a Black- 

 headed Gull reported as Bonaparte's, and many other 



blunders. Mr. must have made a mistake about 



Roseate Tern, as about many other Birds He was not at 

 all a good Ornithologist. . . . And as 'you say the Yellow- 

 shank \ \ Bulwer's Petrel ought to be a caution to us/' 



Lectures were occasionally administered to his own 

 correspondents, some of whom have good humouredly 

 supplied the following samples, addressed to themselves : 



I have delayed too long in writing to thank you for the filled-in 

 schedule which you were kind enough to send. It will be a very useful 

 list, and I must ask you kindly to reply to a few questions, which I hope 



will not give you too much trouble The Scaup Duck (breeding], 



the Spotted Eagle, the Kite, and the Snowy Owl we should, I think, 

 reserve for the present. For, had you been well acquainted already with 

 these birds elsewhere, so as to know them practically and with certainty 

 from former experience, then we might hope to escape criticisms. But 

 I do not think that the identification of such very rare birds (as the last 



