POPULAR MISCELLANY. 



637 



ied. During the period named, comprising 

 twenty-six months, there were sixty-three 

 instances of low barometer, corresponding 

 to eighteen different storms. 



Each of these instances of low pressure 

 appears to have moved eastward, and can 

 be traced to the Atlantic coast. All oc- 

 curred in the six colder months of the year, 

 and were most numerous in January. Their 

 origin appears to have been northwestward 

 of Portland, and probably over the Pacific 

 Ocean. 



Simultaneously with low barometer at 

 Portland, there occurred high barometer 

 eastward from that city, at an average dis- 

 tance of about fifteen hundred miles. The 

 areas of low barometer advancing eastward 

 crossed the continent in an average pe- 

 riod of five days. The path traversed, 

 however, was not a direct one. The low- 

 pressure areas were developed as far north 

 as latitude 50 ; but in the middle of the 

 continent the centres of low pressure were 

 in latitude 40, whence the direction was 

 north of east, reaching the coast in lati- 

 tude 45. 



From observations, which include those 

 made in a previous paper, it appears that 

 areas of low pressure are not only preced- 

 ed, but are followed, by areas of high ba- 

 rometer. These conditions, each succeed- 

 ing the other, traverse the continent with 

 wonderful uniformity. Mountain - ranges 

 from 6,000 to 10,000 feet high do not ar- 

 rest, and but slightly modify, the east- 

 ward movement of these great atmospheric 

 waves. 



The high barometer following the areas 

 of low pressure in their progress is usually 

 attended by winds of great violence, from 

 the north and northwest, attaining in some 

 cases a velocity of from thirty to fifty-seven 

 miles an hour. Extreme cold occurred too 

 in many instances, the mercury falling in 

 one case to 36 Fahr. 



A fact of great interest presented by 

 Prof. Loomis in a former paper is more 

 fully illustrated in the present one ; it is 

 this, that while the air continually flows in- 

 ward and spirally upward in a storm-area, 

 or area of low barometer, it as continually 

 flows outward at great elevations to areas 

 of high barometer, where it descends to the 

 earth's surface. Here it resumes its motion 



inward toward the storm-centre, gather- 

 ing vapor in its progress, to be condensed 

 into rain. It is seen from this that a con- 

 stant vertical circulation occurs. The tables 

 and charts presented by Prof. Loomis, show- 

 ing these facts, are elaborate and conclu- 

 sive. The direction of the movement of 

 the upper air is determined by that of the 

 clouds which float in it. 



" The clouds," says Prof. Loomis, " were 

 in all cases seen to be moving away from 

 the low centre outward, toward an area of 

 high pressure, where the air descends to 

 the earth ; here it again moves inward, and 

 finally upward, in the gyrations of the storm." 



Death to the English Sparrow. The 



right of the European house-sparrow to set- 

 tle in the "United States is hotly contested 

 in the American Naturalist, by Dr. Elliott 

 Coues, who regards that bird as an unmiti- 

 gated nuisance. The author makes no se- 

 cret of his aversion for the sparrow and his 

 contempt for the sparrow's friends. The 

 former is a " wretched interloper " that 

 " does not do any appreciable good ; does a 

 very obvious amount of damage ; and has 

 no place in the natural economy of this 

 country." The sparrow's friends are di- 

 vided into five categories, viz. : 1. The silly 

 ones (though Dr. Coues by a circumlocution 

 avoids the use of this plain language, it is 

 clear to see that he means it). This class 

 is composed chiefly of " children, women, 

 and old fogies." 2. Those who were in- 

 strumental in getting the birds here. 3. 

 Quasi-ornithologists. 4. The clacqueurs of 

 the quasis. 5. A very few intelligent and 

 scientific persons. Having thus cleared the 

 ground, Dr. Coues presents the specific ar- 

 ticles of his indictment of the sparrow. In 

 substance they are : 1. That the sparrows 

 neglect entirely or perform very insufficient- 

 ly the business they were imported to do, 

 videlicet destroying worms and insects. 2. 

 That they do "attack, harass, fight against, 

 dispossess, drive away, and sometimes actu- 

 ally kill, various of our native birds which 

 are much more insectivorous by nature 

 than themselves." 3. That they commit 

 great depredations in the kitchen-garden, 

 orchard, and grain-field. 4. In this speci- 

 fication" the author delicately alludes to cer- 

 tain evidences of a lack of moral restraint 



