G. GENERAL NATURAL HISTORY AND ZOOLOGY. 32 1 



to keep posted in the progress of American ornithology, as it 

 is many years since any work so full of original biographical 

 detail has been presented to the notice of the American public. 



KATE OF GROWTH IN CORAL. 



A suggestion in reference to the growth of coral is quoted 

 by Nature from the Honolulu Gazette as follows : " Some- 

 what less than two years ago a buoy was moored in Kealake- 

 kua Bay. Last week the anchor was hoisted in order to ex- 

 amine the condition of the chain. The latter, which is a 

 heavy two-inch cable, was found covered with corals and 

 oyster-shells, some of which were as large as a man's hand. 

 The large corals measured fourteen and a half inches in 

 length, which thus represents their growth during the period 

 of two years that the anchor and cable have been submerged. 

 The specimens which we have seen show the nature of the 

 formation of the coral by the coral animals very distinctly. 

 The popular idea is that corals are of extremely slow growth, 

 yet here we have a formation equal to a rate of over seven- 

 teen feet in a century." 12 A, August 29, 1872, 356. 



ALLEN ON THE BIRDS OF KANSAS, ETC. 



Mr. J. A. Allen, of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at 

 Cambridge, has lately published "Notes of an Ornithological 

 Reconnoissance of portions of Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming, 

 and Utah," forming No. 6 of the third volume of the Bulle- 

 tin of the Museum. This, like the preceding memoir on the 

 "Birds of Florida," is a very important addition to the phi- 

 losophy of American Zoology, giving, in addition to the facts 

 observed, many important generalizations as to the climatic 

 and other influences which tend to modify the forms, colors, 

 and notes of birds. 



According to Mr. Allen, in the woodlands of Eastern Kan 

 sas there is a decided general tendency to a greater intensity 

 of color than at the northward. The males of the common 

 indigo-bird are more than ordinarily lustrous, and the females 

 also have a decided tinge of blue, which is not the case in the 

 Eastern States ; while in Middle Kansas the light band on 

 the wing of the Baltimore oriole becomes either pure white 

 or scarcely tinged with a pale yellowish color. In the plains 

 proper the laded aspect of the birds generally struck his at- 



02 



