190 ASSISTANCE WANTED. 



of which we sadly feel the want in these open-eyed excursions 

 into dreamland, namely, some convenient ornithological " Who's 

 Who ?" to supply us with the names and the original geogra- 

 phical whereabouts of the different memhers of the feathered 

 fraternity. With most of the party we can get along pretty 

 well by ourselves, but the appearance of a single strange fowl is 

 enough at times to put a stop to our musings, and to make us 

 feel how acceptable would be a plain, practical "handy-book" 

 of aquatic ornithology. 



" If this should meet the eye " of the Et. Hon. gentleman who 

 is charged with the care of Her Majesty's woods and forests, we 

 would humbly submit to him that this is a matter in respect to 

 which he might very appropriately afford us a little of bis official 

 assistance. That assistance is given in one direction, aud it 

 ought to be given in the other. The case is this : In the park 

 gardens every tree or shrub of any interest is carefully indicated 

 by an iron label,, duly setting forth its scientific and its English 

 name, the family of plants to which it belongs, its native country, 

 and the date of its introduction into Britain ; and yet, from one 

 end of the park to the other, there is not so much as a painted 

 board to guide us to a knowledge of the splendid collection of 

 aquatic birds which disport themselves on the ornamental water. 

 But why should not the birds have their labels as well as the 

 bushes ? If there be any conceivable reason for providing a 

 label specially to tell the world that yonder scrubby-looking bush 

 is " Buxus sempervirens, The Common Evergreen Box, An 

 Euphorbiaceous Shrub, Native of England," surely there is just 

 as good a reason for telling us in the same fashion that the Duck 

 making off from under the said Buxus is no other than Anas 

 mollissima, the Eider Duck which weary heads will never fail to 

 bless, or that those Geese sailing along under the bank there 

 are the famous Bernicle Geese (Anser leucopsis) which, in days 

 gone by, used to grow upon trees, like apples, and when they 

 were ripe for the change, dropped into the water and swam away, 

 true feathered fowl ! 



We do not forget, of course, that our feathered friends are 

 endowed with rather active powers of locomotion, and that unless 

 they were made to wear the labels round their necks which it 

 is highly probable that neither the birds themselves, nor their 

 owners, the Ornithological Society, would very well like a set of 



