Notes and Comments 341 
bewildering. We must say, however, that the volume is very 
thorough ; his researches have been extensive. The Biblio- 
graphy of twenty pages indicates that he has made a good 
acquaintance with the extensive literature on the subject. 
He also has decided opinions of his own, and expresses them. 
There are nearly three hundred illustrations ; but the book 
is a ‘ heavy ’ one, in two senses. 
FLINTS IN BOULDER CLAY. 
In Man for October 1916, Mr. J. Reid Moir criticises 
Mr. H. Warren’s paper, ‘ The Experimental Investigation of 
Flint Fracture and its Application to Problems of Human 
Implements,’ (Journ. Royal Anthrop. Inst., Vol. XLIV., 1914). 
Without entering into the question as to whether Mr. Moir or 
Mr. Warren is correct, there is one remark in Mr. Reid Moir’s 
paper to which we must take exception. He says * Flint, 
of even the best quality and greatest hardness, will stand only 
a limited amount of pressure before fracturing, and the 
pressures that “obtain beneath an ice-sheet '’ would un- 
doubtedly reduce it to powder.’ As anyone acquainted with 
our northern boulder clays knows quite well, these deposits 
contain tons of flints of all sorts and sizes, which are not crushed 
to powder, though many bear ice-scratches. They are there ; 
and the boulder-clay was unquestionably formed under an 
ice-sheet. This merely confirms an opinion we have pre- 
viously expressed, that before anyone can pose as an authority 
on pre-historic implements, especially when he is trying to 
prove that they are of extraordinarily great age, he must have 
at least an elementary knowledge of geology. 
NEW NAMES FOR BRITISH BIRDS. 
“H.B.B.’ writes :—Under the above heading the current 
number of The Ibis (p. 667), gives the following extract :— 
‘The July number of The Auk, (p. 346), has a note that, in 
a recent number of ‘“ Falco,’’ the organ of the eccentric Otto 
Kleinschmidt, there are descriptions of the British races of 
Passer domesticus and Strix alba under the new names of 
Passer hostilis and Strix hostilis. The author, O. Kleinschmidt, 
states that his sub-species will probably have a hostile reception 
in their native country, and explains thet he does not name them 
in the interests of British ornithology, but in accordance with 
the thoroughness of German science!’ This attempt to 
re-name two such well-known British birds as the Common 
Sparrow and the Barn Owl may be taken as an honest endeavour 
of O.K. (Orl Korrect) to assist his country in their strife for 
world domination ; rather than a desire to make his name 
famous for having further confused scientific nomenclature. 
1916 Nov. 1. 

