142 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



has distributed funds in aid of investiga- 

 tion to the amount of about seventy thou- 

 sand francs. The Secretary, M. Mercadier, 

 stated that five hundred and seventy-two 

 members had been enrolled since the last 

 meeting at Montpellier to the 1st of Janu- 

 ary, 1S80, and that five hundred and sixty 

 inscriptions had been received since then. 

 The Association receives a gift of one thou- 

 sand francs a year from M, Kuhlmann ; the 

 city of Paris and the city of Montpellier, fol- 

 lowing its example, have instituted funds 

 out of the surpluses remaining from the col- 

 lections for entertaining the sessions, to pro- 

 vide small subventions ; and M. Brunet has 

 given twenty-three thousand eight hundred 

 francs for the foundation of an annual sub- 

 vention of one thousand francs. More than 

 three hundred papers had been sent in at 

 the opening of the sessions. 



English and American Birds. Mr. H. 



D. Minot records his impressions of English 

 birds as compared with American in the 

 August number of the " American Natural- 

 ist," and his good opinion of American birds 

 is not depreciated by the comparison. Birds 

 are less abundant in England than with us, 

 but are, on the other hand, more accessible 

 and companionable for the hoys in England 

 do not stone, and the men do not shoot them, 

 at every opportunity. They seem to be 

 heavier and slower of flight than in America. 

 This was observed particularly of the wild 

 pigeon, the swift, and the grouse. Further- 

 more, says Mr. Minot : " I believe I may 

 justly say that as the birds of England are 

 inferior to those of New England in variety, 

 so are they, on the whole, in coloring and in 

 song. Her kingfisher may be as tropical in 

 brilliancy as our humming-bird ; her thrushes, 

 swallows, and finches as pretty as any other 

 of their tribe ; but with the exquisite and 

 delicate beauty of our wood-warblers, and 

 with the splendor of our tanagers, orioles, 

 and starlings, she has almost nothing among 

 her familiar friends to compare. Then, 

 among her song-birds, of whom I heard 

 nearly all, she has none corresponding as 

 musicians to our hermit-thrush, house-wren, 

 water-warbler, solitary vireo, song-sparrow, 

 or rose-crested grosbeak ; yet all these, and 

 many kindred that I might associate with 

 them here, arc good singers. To all her song- 



birds (that I have heard), on the contrary, 

 except two or three, we have singers corre- 

 sponding, and to all absolutely, I may say 

 without prejudice, equals or superiors, as 

 well as I can judge." The nightingale did 

 not quite meet his anticipations, but he re- 

 cognized that " it had a most wonderful com- 

 pass, and was the greatest of all bird vocal- 

 ists, but with a less individual and exquisite 

 genius than our wood-thrush, yet, to hear 

 that delicious, soft, liquid, warbled trill 

 which she alone can give was a lasting 

 pleasure." The flight of the skylark " is 

 indeed astonishing, though exaggerated by 

 report. . . . His song is an unbroken, ec- 

 static torrent ; but it is shrill, slightly harsh, 

 and not very musical. It is not so rich as 

 our bobolink's roundelay, and its sweetest 

 notes, though they suggest, do not equal, the 

 canary's song, except for their intensity of 

 utterance. All his poetry and the secret of 

 his charm are in his flight." The most indi- 

 vidual and only new type of bird-song Mr. 

 Minot heard was that of the wood-lark, " the 

 repetition of a delicate whistle (c/t'wee), shrill 

 at first, intensifying as the bird rises, and, as 

 he drops, falling in tone and pitch so as to 

 die away upon the ear. It is exquisite." 

 Other singers are the song-thrush, whose 

 music is like our brown thrush's, but with 

 less variety and occasional harsh notes ; the 

 blackbird, with a richer and more liquid and 

 at times exceedingly delightful song; the 

 wren, singing with characteristic sweetness 

 and power, the black-cap linnet, and chaf- 

 finch, to whose songs Mr. Minot gives only 

 faint and qualified praise. Robin-redbreast 

 is charming on account of its associations. 

 Mr. Minot earnestly commends the collections 

 of birds in the local museums, especially 

 those at Salisbury and Torquay. 



Transformation of Sonnd into Light. 



M. Tr^ve, a ship captain, has described to 

 the French Academy of Sciences an experi- 

 ment with the apparatus called the singing 

 condenser, by which he believes that he pro- 

 duces a transformation of sound into light. 

 If we bring the current of a Ruhmkorfif coil 

 to bear upon one of these condensers, the 

 latter will repeat on a larger scale the vi- 

 bratory movement of the coil. The noise 

 which it makes is due to the vibrations of 

 the air in the condenser under the shock of 



