526 Letters, Extracts, Notices, ^c. 
few pairs of this bird with two nests. Unless ruthless 
visitors have exterminated them very recently, they still 
visit the Bermudas in the breeding-season. I may add that 
the eggs, which were about the size of a small hen^s e^%, are 
very smooth and shiny. Happily the Dusky Shearwater 
has many other breeding-haunts^ so that there is no fear of 
its universal extinction at present. But I have said enough 
in refutation of Mr. VerrilFs dogmatic statement that the 
Cahow was certainly not a Shearwater. 
Yours &c., 
College, Durham. H. B. Tristram. 
8th April, 1902. 
[We regret to have been misled by Mr. Verrill. The 
Cahow question has already been discussed in the ' Dictionary 
of Birds ^ (p. SSI), which we had quite overlooked. — Edd.] 
Fertilization of Plants by Birds. — We all know that insects 
play a most important part in the fertilization of plants, but 
it is a more recent discovery that birds also in some cases 
perform the same function. In a paper on New Zealand 
Flowers read at the meeting of the Linnean Society of 
London on February 20th last^ by Mr, G. M. Thomson, 
some observations were made on the birds which visit them 
and appear to help in cross-fertilization, e.g., the Korimako 
(Anthornis melanura) , the Grey Warbler (Gerygone flavi- 
rostris), the Pied Fantail (Rhipidura flahellifera) , and the 
Yellow-breasted Tit {Petrceca macrocephala). Of these the 
Korimako was ascertained to assist in the fertilization of 
the native fuchsias, on quitting which it was observed that 
the bird had its head stained with the bright blue pollen of 
the flowers. 
New Name for the British Wren. — We have already recorded 
the bestowal of a new name on the British Dipper (see above, 
p. 353), and have now a fresh surprise for our ornithological 
friends. The British Wren, we are told, ought to be called 
