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HARD Wl CKE 'S SCIENCE - G OS SIP. 



obtains by contact with decaying vegetable matter a 

 certain amount of carbonic acid, capable of dissolving 

 a portion of the limestone rocks through which it 

 passes, and of carrying off in solution no small 

 quantity of bicarbonate of lime, and in so doing 

 acquires the character known as "hard." The same 

 process would also doubtless occur to some extent in 

 its horizontal passage through softer beds. Many 

 springs carry off as much as 17 grains of lime to the 

 gallon, and it is probable other material is being 

 carried off in a similar manner. Now when we con- 

 sider that springs frequently deliver from i to lOO 

 gallons of water per hour, we must own that the 

 <lenuding of the strata along certain lines must be 

 considerable, and we cannot do other than suppose 

 that the beds thus denuded would form an unequal 

 support for the bands of rock overlying them, which 

 would sink and crack, forming those joints and 

 svnclinals so common in limestone beds. At the 

 surface these joints in the neighbourhood of Godal- 

 ming are frequently filled with the sandy loam of 

 the field ; at others they probably form a line of sur- 

 face drainage. The last stage of all, when the two 

 causes had met, would probably be one of those deep 

 ravines, sometimes having a stream at their bottom, 

 which are so common among our Green-sand Hills. 

 I should only add that 1 do not intend that all Faults 

 have been caused by the agency of water, but I think 

 the question is not so much what water cannot do, as 

 what water can, and has done. — II. IV. Kidd. 



Occurrence of the Remains of Ilvu-tiarcfos 

 IN THE Red Crag of Suffolk. — At a recent 

 meeting of the Geological Society a paper was read 

 on the above subject by Prof. William Henry Flower, 

 F.R.S., F.G.S. The traces oi Hyivnairtos described 

 by the author consist of a right and a left first upper 

 molar, which were obtained from the Red Crag of 

 Waldringfield, and are so much alike, that, but for the 

 former being rather more \\orn, they might have be- 

 longed to the same animal. On comparison, these 

 teeth were found to show no apprecialjle difference 

 from the corresponding teeth of the original specimen 

 oi Ilyainu-ctos sivalensis from the Sewalik Hills ; and 

 hence the author did not venture to regard them as 

 representing a species distinct from the Indian one. 

 The author discussed the synonymy of this species, 

 which was first described by Falconer and Cautlcy in 



1836, mider the name of Ursiis sivalensis. The genus 

 A^iotheriiim was established for it by Wagner in 



1837, and the names Avipltiantos and Sivalarctos 

 were given to the genus by Blainville in 1841 ; but 

 Falconer and Cautley's name F/ycrnatrtos, although 

 certainly of later date, has licen generally adopted. 

 Remains of the genus ha\e been found in the Pliocene 

 marine sands of Montpellier (//. iiisii;-jtis, Gerv.), and 

 in Miocene beds at Sansans (//. /n/nin'ou), and at 

 Alcoy, in Spain. An early perfect mandible of //. 

 sivalensis has recently been obtained in its original 

 locality by Mr. Theobald. 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



The Cormorant. — I have lately been engaged 

 in the study and observation of the common 

 Cormorant [Phalacracorax carbo), and perhaps some 

 of the results thereof will prove not uninteresting to 

 the readers of SciENCE-GossiP. i. In the first place, 

 after a rather extensive experience, I may say that I 

 never saw any cormorant execute the juggling feat of 

 tossing in the air a fish captured tail foremost, so as 

 to cause it to be caught again and swallowed in the 

 more approved fashion of head foremost. 2. Ornitho- 

 logical writers, in treating of the habits of this bird, 

 would lead us to suppose, that, after fishing, it 

 generally alights on a sand-bank, &c., and remains 

 stationary in that position, with its wings held out to 

 dry, for hours at a time. Now, I have frequently seen 

 as many as as twenty cormorants in the precise position 

 now referred to, and in no single instance have I 

 seen the wings expanded in order to dry for a longer 

 period than a couple of minutes. The bird fltes 

 tolerably rapidly, presenting a shai'p, lengthy appear- 

 ance while suspended in the air, and alights upon an 

 insulated bank of mud or sand. It tucks away its 

 short "cutty" wings, commences to preen its feathers 

 or its down, and presently expands its wings in a 

 manner that clearly indicates that some effort is 

 required for that purpose. Perhaps the bird revolves 

 a point or two on its axis (as it were), so as to 

 quicken the evaporating process. Perhaps also, too, 

 he may flap the wings backwards and forwards two or 

 three times ; but I am convinced that to keep them 

 fully expanded for any considerable time would 

 involve a straining of the muscles and an expenditure 

 of physical power which the bird, in its season of rest 

 and relaxation, is barely competent to endure and to 

 display. Moreover, the whole flock thuswise reposing 

 do not siniiiltaneously expand their wings in the 

 manner described ; perhaps two or three out of ten 

 may do so at any one time. 3. Lastly, I wish to 

 make some observations respecting the commonly 

 accepted opinion that cormorants are "low" birds, 

 and that hardly any of the other members of their 

 order would be seen in their company. Now, on 

 several occasions I have seen a great black-backed 

 gull [lanis inariniis) reposing on the same sand-bank 

 with these "vulgar creatures." It is no exaggeration 

 to say tliat if birds in general are at all capable of 

 feeling emotions of pride and vanity, if they are any- 

 wise disposed to entertain an overweening opinion of 

 themselves, then most assuredly the gull now 

 mentioned can do so, for of all the birds that hover 

 over the ocean, this one is the most pompous and 

 the most imperious. Frequently have I observed 

 this haughty gull strutting about with all its usual 

 pomposity, or reposing in its usual "studious" 

 manner upon a stone, ^\■ithin a few feet of where a 

 company of ugly cormorants were resting themselves 

 and preening their feathers, and expanding their 

 wings with all customary eccentricity. Occasionally, 

 too, specimens of that most indefatigable and most 

 smart-looking of little birds, viz. the Oyster-catcher, 

 would advance very near to the chosen resting-seats 

 of these most powerful, vigilant, and enduring of 

 Natatores.— Z*. CKeegan, LL.D. 



Red-winged Starling. — Early in May last year, 

 when commencing a collection of birds' eggs, I 

 obtained in the village of Roundhay, near Leeds, a 

 nest containing five eggs which were unlike any I 

 ever saw before. The nest, which was placed in the 

 fork of a hawthorn tree, was composed, as nearly as 

 I can recollect, of twigs and stalks externally, and was 

 lined with wool or hair. The eggs, ^^'hich are of 



