142 



The Canadian Field-Nattkalist 



Vol. ^XXV 



Some Mosses from Boskuvg. 



As botanical field work in Canada at 

 the present, day is largely confined to 

 flowering plants, a few amateur notes on 

 Ontario mosses may perhaps be forgiven 

 by the small omniscient experts to whom 

 my findings must seem elementary and 

 superficial. 



In the month of August, 1921, I spent a 

 two weeks vacation on the shores of Bos- 

 kuug Lake, Sianhope township, Haliburton 

 county, Ontario. By way of diversion, I 

 attempted to take a census of the mosses 

 of the immediate neighbor^iood. The com- 

 pleted census-roll, though limited, may not 

 be without interest. 



Boskung Lake is a small, pear-shaped 

 body of water, lying wholly within the 

 rough, granitic Laurentian Pene-plain. Its 

 surface is some 1100 feet above sea-level 

 and its shores rise steeply to an additional 

 height of from 100 to 150 feet. Its narrow 

 watershed contains no bogs, swamps, or 

 small streams. The soil is morainic sand. 



The possibilities of the field were tjius 

 distinctly limited, and the various mosses 

 which favor limestones, which grow at low 

 levels and in warm climates, and which 

 flourish in bogs, in water, or on clay soil, 

 conspicuously lacking. With these reser- 

 vations, however, my brief survey found 

 many species and much encouragement. 



The chief soil-loving mosses were the 

 Common Hair-cap, tjbe glaucous-green 

 Juniper Ilair-cap, the muddy-green Com- 

 mon Barbula, the Common Bryum, the 

 Crested Fissidens, and the Maiden li air- 

 like P"'issidens. 



Frequent finds in moist woods were the 

 Common Fern ■Moss, the Smaller Fern 

 Moss, and the Woodsy Mnium. The Clav- 

 f'llate Drummondia was common on the 

 bark of trees; while the Slender Plagio- 

 thecium and tlie Adnate Amhlystegium 

 wore found about their bases. Rotten wood 

 was upholstered with dense mats of the 

 lirigjht green Common Ilypnum, the Pin- 

 nale Ilypnum, the slender Creeping Ani- 

 l)lystegium, the Creeping Hypivum, the 

 .\odding Bryum. and the Riblx'd Ilypnum. 

 Around old stumps 1 found the European 

 Tree Moss, not uidike a small Lycf»pod, 

 and the dark, thin mats of the Purple 

 Ceratodon. 



At the head of Boskung Lake, Hall's 

 Rapids, a short but violent stream foams 

 down f r( m a higher lake to the north, 

 drenching its rocky raviiie with spray. 

 Here were soft, wet masses of the Beaked 

 Anomodon, t/ie Slender Anomodon, the 

 Bristly Rhacomitrium, the Long-Leaved 

 Mnium, the Fountain Philonotis, and the 

 Verdant Weissia. 



A final hunting-ground was a steep 

 granite cliff, caused by a colossal fault in 

 thte rocks around the entire northeast shore 

 of the lake and kept moist at its base by a 

 thick mantle of forest. Small, dark tufts 

 of Common Grimmia were the first dis- 

 covery : then came the dark, brittle masses 

 of the Rock-loving Andreaea, the flattened 

 branches of t;ie Filmy-fern Homalia, and 

 the delicate little Wiry Fern Moss; and 

 then the Yew-leaved Fissidens, the Small- 

 capsuled Rhacomitrium, the Long-capsuled 

 Brachj'thecium, and the Crispate Ptycho- 

 milrium. 



Some 34 different species of moss were 

 thus identified, with more or less dubious 

 accuracy. Several other specimens were 

 collected, but for them identification was 

 impossible with the two hand-lenses, of 9 

 and 24 diameters respectively, witji which 

 I was equipped. 



The record is a small one, but surely 

 large enough, when we consider the limi- 

 tations of time, season, and physiography 

 in this individual case, to suggest real pos- 

 sibilities for amateur bryological work in 

 Ontario. 



Watson Kirkconnell, M. A. 



Birds as Foster Parents. — It is not 

 generally known, probably, that wild 

 birds will assume the role of foster 

 parents, but after a number of tests 

 t.he writer has discovered that there are 

 a few birds at least that will take 

 up these dutie-; under certain conditions. 

 Firstl^y the orjilian bii'ds must be quite 

 young, and, secondly, tiie foster parents 

 must have young of their own about the 

 same age. I have exchanged the young 

 of crows, pigeons, swallowN and sparrows, 

 and in every instance they were raised to 

 maturity. This was done when t,he young 

 were in the downy stage and all w^re 

 about the same age, but if a more mature 

 bird be introduced into a nest of downv 



