242 
NATURE 
* 
[¥uly 16, 1885 
to say instructive study, and induces his fellow-subjects 
to break the law by the price he offers for his “ rarities.” 
Passing to another part of our theme we wish to 
mention our author’s remarks on the valueless nature of 
nearly all the ordinary records with regard to the migra- 
tions of birds. Many we are sure must have felt the truth 
of the following statements; but we do not recollect 
having before seen it so explicitly put forth, and con- 
gratulate Mr. Mitchell on perceiving its importance. He 
says :— 
“ The fact is, that very few of the observations, now so 
numerously made, as to the movements of summer 
migrants, are worth anything at all; and if data are to 
be collected on land of value commensurate with those 
now being collected on information from lighthouses, &c., 
by the committee appointed by the British Association, it 
will be necessary for the observer to fulfil something like 
the following conditions: firstly, that he should be con- 
tinuously engaged out of doors; secundly, that he should 
be entirely familiar, not only with the plumage of the 
birds, but that he should be able to recognise most of 
them when flying, and be thoroughly acquainted with 
their song, their call and alarm notes ; and thirdly, that 
he should have a knowledge of the food requirements of 
each species, and be able, for instance, to infer, from the 
plentifulness of such and such an insect, that such and 
such a bird may be expected to feed on it. Such a con- 
junction can only be found in few individuals; but if 
every man in his leisure field-walks would, and especially 
in connection with meteorological conditions, note the 
other natural circumstances at the time of his first seeing 
a spring arrival, a mass of information would be got 
together, invaluable for the discovery of the laws of geo- 
graphical distribution ; and until something of the sort is 
done, and such information sifted and compared, I believe 
those laws will remain, as they are now, dubious and 
conjectural.” —Jntroductory, pp. 1x. x. 
In the bibliographical portion of his work Mr. Mitchell 
shows himself to be well read, and the selections he 
makes from the writings of his predecessors seem to be 
exceedingly judicious. If he errs at all, which we do not 
say is the case, itis on the side of conciseness, and we 
can imagine that many readers who have not access to a 
good library would be better pleased had his extracts 
occasionally been longer, so that, should his little book 
reach a second edition, as it well deserves to do, this 
point might be borne in mind by the author; though we 
cannot find it in ourselves to blame him on this account, 
knowing the tendency to superfluity which prevails among 
the ornithological writers of the present day. One un- 
questionable merit Mr. Mitchell possesses. He is free 
from the wish to exaggerate the importance of his subject, 
and is certainly not bent on making out a numerous list 
of the birds of his county, as so many compilers of local 
faunas have done, by giving fresh life to the most doubtful 
reports which profess to record impossibilities. In one 
case, indeed, he seems to us to have transgressed ; but 
he may be pardoned for not being aware of the profound 
mistrust that was entertained nearly five-and-twenty years 
since by well-informed persons in regard to some state- 
ments that were then made ina certain auction-catalogue, 
The Swallow-tailed Kite should disappear from his list. 
Lancashire, however, indubitably boasts the possession of 
the only existing “ British-killed” specimens of the Black- 
throated Wheatear and the Wall-Creeper—though an 
example of the latter is known to have been obtained in 
Norfolk nearly one hundred years ago—and accordingly 
a coloured figure (by Mr. Keulemans) of each of these 
species is introduced. Some carefully drawn illustrations 
of decoys, as well as several other ingenious modes of 
netting or snaring wild birds, are also given, and these 
add not a little to the interest of the book ; for, with the 
exception of the plates in Rowley’s not very accessible | 
“Ornithological Miscellany,” we are not aware of any 
representation of the mode of capture by “ fly-nets,” while 
we think neither the “ douker-net ” nor the “snipe-pantle” 
has ever been figured before ; and with respect to this last 
term, which Mr. Mitchell derives “from the Anglo-Norman _ 
‘panter = a net or snare,’ ” we may observe that Olina in i 
1622, and Willughby after him, calls a certain kind of net — 
used in taking starlings, woodcocks, and other birds — 
pantiera—a word which seems to exist now in Italian as 
pantera Of course a work on the birds of Lancashire 
could not be complete without a reference to Gerarde and 
the Pile of Foulders, whereon bernacles turned to geese ; 
but we are glad to see that Mr. Mitchell abstains from 
sneering at the old herbalist’s credulity, as so many 
modern writers have done, though we must point out to 
him that in these days to speak of a bernacle as “a 
species of multivalve” is to use a somewhat vague if not 
inaccurate expression. Let us add that a map of the 
county and, so far as we have tested it, an excellent index 
are among the merits of this satisfactory little book. 
A CATALOGUE OF CANADIAN PLANTS 
Geological and Natural History Survey of Canada. 
Alfred R. C. Selwyn, LL.D., F.R.S., F.G.S., Director. 
“ Catalogue of Canadian Plants. Part I]. Gamopetalze.” 
By John Macoun, M.A., F.L.S., F.R.S.C. 8vo, 200 pp. 
(Montreal: Dawson Brothers, 1884.) 
LTHOUGH this is only a catalogue of names and 
localities, it is a work of much interest and one that 
has been greatly needed by European botanists and 
botanical geographers. The flora of the north temperate 
zone in both hemispheres is so very similar in general 
character that nearly half of the genera of the Canadian 
area and a large number of the species reach to it all the 
way from Britain across Europe and through Siberia, and 
the remarkable longitudinal differentiation of the flora of 
the United States renders it a matter of much interest to 
be able to trace out the dispersion of the species through 
the more northern areas of the Continent. The “Flora 
Boreali-Americana” of Sir Wm. Hooker is now forty 
years old, and all that has since been worked out about 
the Canadian species and their distribution has never 
been put together and published so that it was available 
for general use. The first portion of the present Cata- 
logue, which was issued in 1883, contained the Polype- 
talous natural orders ; including naturalisations the 
number of Polypetalous genera was 243, and of species 
907. The present part contains the Gamopetale, and 
carries up the number of genera to 498, and of species to 
1811. So that the total number of flowering plants now 
known in British North America may be estimated at 
about 3000 species against 10,000 or 12,000 now known 
in the United States. One of the most remarkable points 
t See also Prof. Skeat’s ‘‘Etymological Dictionary” (p. 415) sub voce 
‘* Painter,” for instances of its use by Chaucer and others. 
