THE CANADIAN' SPORTSMAN AND NATURALIST. 



'K, 



to ascertain from persona resident near the 

 hikes, to inform them o! the first appearance 

 of the ducks, so thai they can start on their 

 shooting trips at the right time. Very few 

 Red-heads, Blue-bills, and Plover were exposed 

 for sale in our markets this Fall, bul plenty 

 til Black Ducks, Teal, Woodcock and Snipe. 

 I am under the impression thai the Red-heads 

 and Blue-bills departed the latter end of Octo- 

 ber, [f many were observed in November, I 

 should be interested to hear of it through the 

 columns of the Canadian Sportsman and 

 Naturalist. 



Teal. 

 Montreal, Itli December, 1881 . 



To the Editor of the Canadian Sportsman and 

 Naturalist : 

 Djsar Sir, — I take "in good part" your 

 strictures on my notes to Professor Macoun's 



Ornithological record, and hope you will receive 

 what I have to say in reply in a similar candid 

 spirit. In the first place I would point out 

 that there is a general disposition on the part 

 of our best naturalists to simplify the nomen- 

 clature, by abolishing many of the genera 

 which have been recently established on what 

 are considered very insufficient grounds, and 

 at the same time to retain or restore those 

 names which are entitled to priority, with the 

 exception of such as are manifestly inappro- 

 priate, as having been bestowed either in the 

 absence of sufficient knowledge, or in mis- 

 conception. The name " Lanius " is certainly 

 entitled to priority in point of time, having 

 been bestowed on the Shrikes by Lin mens, 

 while "Colluris" originated (not with Dr. 

 Baird,) but with Vigors. There can be no 

 comparison between these two names as to their 

 appropriateness, the former being exactly des- 

 criptive of the habits of the bird ; the only 

 objection that can be made to it being that it 

 does not come* from the Greek, but from the 

 Latin language. The name Colluris appears 

 to me to be tar-fetched and inappropriate, inas- 

 much as the only derivation I can rind for it is 

 Ki)'//i'l>/i>r (kollurion), diminutive of KoAlvpa 

 (IcolUira), equivalent of Ko'/.'Ai \ (Jcollix), a 

 long, narrow loaf of bread, this is latin- 

 ized into Colli/rium, eye-salve, so called 

 because put up in small cakes. Now the bird 

 does not eat bread, either in long or short 

 loaves; ami certainly does not use eye-salve 

 either in large or small cakes, and I therefore 

 think that tins may be taken as an example of 

 the reckless manner in which ridiculous names 

 have been inflicted upon unoffending species by 



fanciful author-. You have evidently formed 

 a wrong conception of tin- scope and character 

 of Professor Jordan's " Manual of the Vi 



I. rales.'' It is in lad a very trainable work, 



carefully condensed and compiled from the 



besi American authors, and 1 would a- strongly 



recommend it as a book of reference to the 

 student ot vertebrate life, as 1 would Nuttall's 



or Walker's Dictionary to the Student of the 

 English language, for it has the merit • • 

 senting the distinctive characters "i • 

 species so clearly, and so fret- from tin- unim- 

 portant details with which too many writer- 

 overload their descriptions, that both Profi 

 Macoun and myself have been able through 

 its means to indentify several birds ami other 

 animals which we had failed to recognise from 

 other more laboured and pretentious work-. I 

 may say further that it is only in the edition 

 of 1881 that Dr. .Ionian has re.-torcd the name 

 " Lanius," having adopted ••Colluris" in his 

 former editions. 



Yonr obedient servant . 



James T. Bbll. 

 Albert College, ) 



Belleville, Dec. 5th, 1881. S 



P.S. — I find that I made a mistake in the 

 name of the worthy sportsman whose sua 

 among the Bass I recorded in my former let- 

 ter; bis name is Ormond, not Orwin. as 1 

 accidentally mis-spelled it. .1. T. B. 



Some of our hunters have visited the north- 

 ern part ot this district with pretty good suc- 

 cess. Messrs. S. B. Burdett. H. Corby, and 

 Jas. Clarke, spent a week at Loon Lake, and 

 killed five deer in three days hunting. Ii\ 

 Dungannon and Faraday, Messrs. R. Tait and 

 .1. Roy, one day, drove three deer into Bay 

 Lake, all of which they killed. In the after- 

 noon Mr. Hoy went out again and killed an- 

 other by still-hunting. Game of all kinds is 

 unusually plentiful in the northern townships 

 of Hastings this year. A tew day- ago Mr. R. 

 Day shot thirteen partridges (Ruffed Grouse) 

 within three miles of the city ot' Belleville. 

 J. T. B. 



A GENERAL DELUGE. 



r»Y G. \v. BROWN, M. D. 



{Our Borne, and Science Qossip>) 



China claims a written history of 300,000 

 years. She gives the names of dynasties who 

 have ruled over them for more than 50,000 

 years. May there not be more truth in their 

 histories than we have given them credit ? 

 They have had a written and printed language 

 from time immemorial. It is very probable, 



