BIEDS OF NOETI-IEEN CANADA 289 



In this connection much might also be accomplished by 

 land surveyors and prospectors of gold and other minerals, 

 and it would be well if the Chief Executive of the several 

 railway and telegraph companies duly encouraged all favour- 

 ably circumstanced officials to do their part in the premises. 

 The Geological Survey Department has a grand record in 

 this regard, and its present officers will, no doubt, continue 

 the good work, while the recent appointment of Professors of 

 Botany and Zoology, etc., in the University of Manitoba, 

 should have the effect of placing the study of Natural Science 

 on a somewhat higher plane than it has hitherto occupied. 



It has been already elsewhere stated that during his three 

 years' (1859-1862) sojourn in the Mackenzie Kiver District, 

 the late notable naturalist, Mr. Robert Kennicott, managed 

 to infuse much of his own zealous and indefatigable collect- 

 ing spirit into all of the Company's northern officers. This, 

 taken in conjunction with the powerful influence exercised 

 by the late lamented Professor Spencer F. Baird, of the 

 Smithsonian Institution, will largely account for the mag- 

 nificent contributions to the Natural History of the United 

 States and Canada made as a result of their combined exer- 

 tions. In a lesser degree, the New Caledonia and Cumber- 

 land collections may be largely credited to the personal zeal 

 and relative correspondence of the late regretted Major 

 Charles E. Bendire, U. S. A., one of the most successful of 

 American collectors, and the author also of several minor 

 publications, while his splendid " Life Histories of North 

 American Birds," in two volumes (the completion of the 

 work was prevented by his death in 1895. Dr. Ralph was 

 appointed to do so, but his recent departure has again inter- 

 vened, and a further delay will no doubt take place), will 

 assuredl;^ perpetuate for many years his memory and ser- 

 vices to science. 



In his valuable and very interesting " Catalogue of 

 Canadian Birds," the well-known Professor John Macotm, 

 of Ottawa, has inadvertently overlooked the presence of 



