10 



KNOWLEDGE. 



[jAXfARY, 1902. 



FETISH 



I 



OnNiTHOLOGICAU 



■''&i- 



f: 



NOTES::. __ 



Conducted by Harry F. Witherby, f.z.s., u.b.o.xt. 



Baer's PocnAiii) {Xi/nicd h<ieri) in Hertfordshire. 

 — At the meeting of the British Ornithologists' Club, 

 held on November 20th, 1901, the Hon. N. Charles 

 Rothschild exhibited a specimen of this Asiatic duck, 

 which had been shot on the Tring Reservoirs, Hertford- 

 shire, on November 5th, 1901. This duck had never 

 before been obtained in the British Islands, and the 

 only question was whether Mr. Rothschild's specimen 

 was a ti-iily wild bird or an escape. The specimen had 

 no appearance of having been in captivity, and Mr. 

 Rothschild had satisfied himself that it had not escaped 

 from the Zoological Gardens, where there are four 

 pinioned birds of this species. The Duke of Bedford 

 and Mr. J. G. Millais, in reply to enquiries, stated that 

 they were not aware of any of these birds having been 

 turned out on artificial waters in this country. So 

 that the evidence so far points to the fact that Mr. 

 Rothschild's specimen is a truly wild bird, which doubts 

 less lost its way and wandered to this country in the 

 same way that other Asiatic birds have done, e.g., 

 MacQueen's Bustard and Radde's Bush Warbler. 



Carolina Crake {Por:aiia cnruliun) in Tiree. — At 

 the same meeting as that referred to above, JSIr. E. Lort. 

 Phillips exhibited a specimen of the American bird, 

 the Carolina Crake, which he .had shot in the island 

 of Tiree, on October 25th, 1901. Two other specimens 

 of this species liave been recorded as having been 

 obtained in Great Britain. 



Yellow-billed Cuckoo (Corcyzus americanus) in 

 Somersetshire. — Another American bird, the Yellow- 

 billed Cuckoo, which has occurred several times before 

 in the British Isles, was exhibited by Mr. Robert H. 

 Road. The specimen was obtained at Pylle, near 

 Shepton Mallet, on October 6th, 1901, by Mr. F. 

 Dowling. A discussion on these specimens resulted in 

 the opinion that the birds which visited us from America, 

 and especially insectivorous species such as the Cuckoo, 

 were under the suspicion of having received assistance 

 in crossing the Atlantic bj' resting upon ships. It had 

 often been observed on Atlantic passages that birds 

 alighted on the vessel near America and rested in the 

 rigging until the ship neared the coast of Ireland, when 

 they flew off to the shore. At the same time it was a 

 fact that American birds almost invariably visited oiu- 

 shores in October during the autumnal migi-ation, which 

 pointed to the conclusion that they had been blown 

 out of their normal course. With a bird such as the 

 Crake, with a strong flight and powers of alighting and 

 resting upon the water, it was possible to understand that 

 it could accomplish the passage of the Atlantic unaided. 



All contn'liutiimK to the ealximv, either in the tray of notes 

 or photoijriiph.s, should be forwuriieil to Harry F. Witherby, 

 nt 10, St. Gcntuni.'i Place, Blackheath, Kent. 



STUDIES IN THE BRITISH FLORA. 



By R. Lloyd Praeger, b.a. 



I.— PLANT COLONISTS. 



Prior to the time when man in these countries began 

 to till the ground — say between 2000 and 5000 b.c. — 

 the face of the land had an aspect very different from 

 what it bears at present. Long before Neolithic man 

 introduced the arts of hiLsbandry, and began to choose 

 pasturage for his flocks and to sow in the ground, in 

 order that he miglit reap, the land had been completely 

 colonised by plants which are still our common wild- 

 flowers, and eveiy nook and corner had its chosen 

 inhabitants. On the lower grounds, forest trees held 

 sway, and herds of grazing animals roamed through 

 extensive woods. In rougher country gi-eat stretches 

 were occupied by trees of lesser statiire, and deer and 

 wild boar and wolf found secure retreats among 

 thickets of Oak, Birch, Holly, and Hawthorn, such 

 as still occupy stony slopes in hilly districts. 

 Elsewhere grassy downs extended, and great undrained 

 marshes — secure home of the crane and bittern — while 

 in mountain regions alone the scene was very similar to 

 that which still meets the eye. The vegetation was that 

 which entered or returned to the coiinti-y at the close 

 of the Glacial Epoch, and which has held sway, except 

 when disturbed by man's operations, ever since. At 

 what period, from what centres, by what means, and in 

 what order our present flora arrived in the countiy, 

 and what has been its historv since its arrival, are 

 questions of deep interest, on which recent reseai-ches 

 in our latest geological deposits are casting light. To 

 that subject we may return later ; suffice it for our 

 present purpose to find, at the period when man's 

 influence first began to affect the vegetation, the bulk 

 of our present flora firmly established in the countrv. 



When our forefathers commenced to till the ground, 

 a destruction of the native plant associations was the 

 result; and this gave an opening for other plants suited 

 to the new conditions. Annuals could maintain their 

 hold year by year on the tilled land, where the former 

 perennial plant^groups could no longer exist. And 

 clearly those plants whose seeds happened to be mixed 

 with the grain which the early husbandmen sowed, 

 would have an excellent opportunity of svu-vival. Thus 

 we can conceive that the now large and well-marked 

 group of weeds of cultivation had a very early origin. 

 Nor is it impossible to conjecture tliat in some cases 

 plants originally native may have found a congenial 

 habitat on these prepared grounds, and by degrees for- 

 saken their old haunts and established themselves mainly 

 here, and become parasitic, so to speak, not on man, but 

 on man's operations. Certain it is that we have plants 

 in oiu- flora, which are presumably original natives, yet 

 are always or generally found in association with man 

 (though not of any service to him) in cultivated land 

 or alx>ut dwellings,* etc. Pot-herbs and simples were 

 no doubt also of vei-y eai-ly introduction, and. planted 

 neai" the dwellings, in many cases established them- 

 selves. In the woodlands and thickets, the influence of 

 man was probably more slow to make itself felt ; but 

 the lopping of branches and felling of trees of chosen 

 sorts for the manufacture of utensils and implements, 

 and for firewood, must have by degrees effected the 

 plant associations of the forest; and in later times 

 wholesale clearing of wooded areas for pui-poses of 



•An illustration : 'Wliat would bp tlie distribution of tlio Wall 

 Euc or Wall Tellitory if man did not use lime mortar for buildiug ? 



