1896 NOTES AND COMMENTS. 295 



Bird Day. 

 A " Bird Day " for America, on the same lines as the " Arbor 

 Day," was suggested some two years ago by Mr. C. A. Babcock, 

 of Pennsylvania, and approved by the U.S. Department of Agricul- 

 ture, Its observance has again been pressed upon the attention of the 

 National Education Association, in a circular dated July 2, 1896, which 

 points out that the object of the Government is "to diffuse know- 

 ledge concerning our native birds, and to arouse a more general 

 interest in bird protection." It is also stated that " one of the greatest 

 benefits of Arbor Day is the sentiment and interest aroused in the 

 subject of trees and in the broader study of nature." As appeals to 

 the humanity of woman are fruitless, and the ignorance of the farmer 

 is still deplorable, perhaps the best means for the preservation of 

 feathered beings is to interest the young in birds in general, stress 

 being especially placed upon their more interesting habits, their foods, 

 and uses. The circular fully recognises the harm done to agriculture 

 by the " Scalp Act " of Pennsylvania, of 1885, and the uselessness of 

 waging war against noxious animals, because it almost invariably 

 leads to the wholesale destruction of life, and the destruction therefore 

 of many animals of inestimable value to the agriculturalist. 



Phosphatic Chalk. 



A SECOND locality for phosphatic chalk has been discovered by 

 Mr. John Rhodes, fossil collector to the Geological Survey, and has 

 been described by Mr. Aubrey Strahan in the Quarterly Journal of the 

 Geological Society for August. The newly-discovered bed is from 

 one to two feet thick, and is seen throughout the section in the 

 Southerham Pit " on the south-western side of the high downs of 

 Upper Chalk which overlook Lewes from the east." In composition 

 the Southerham phosphatic chalk is almost identical with that of 

 Taplow ; the brown grains can easily be separated from the chalky 

 matrix by a weak solution of acetic acid. Mr. Strahan refers the bed 

 to the horizon of the Chalk Rock, and points out that in this respect 

 alone it differs from the Taplow deposits, which occurred in the 

 Actinocamax quadratus zone of the Upper Chalk. Fish-remains are 

 abundant in the phosphatic band, and Mr. Chapman has given a list 

 of forty-two Foraminifera and six Ostracoda in an appendix to the 

 paper. 



A very rich phosphate from Taplow, containing no less than 

 65 per cent, of phosphate of lime, was exhibited at the July meeting 

 of the Geologists' Association by Mr. F. W. Rudler, on behalf of the 

 discoverer, Mr. de Mercey. 



English Cave Dwellers. 



While the Irish Cave Fauna is being investigated by Messrs. 

 G. H. Carpenter, H. Lyster Jameson and others, to whose work we 



