304 



NATURAL SCIENCE. May. 1897. 



months near the coast, and I have authentic records of two more 

 instances which occurred in Scotland during 1896. 



" Seebohm, one of our most able and reliable naturalists, says : — 

 ' Before it is too late, Scotchmen, protect your national bird, the 

 eagle of your ancestors, and stay the cruel war waged by grouse- 

 shooter, deer-stalker, sheep-farmer, and skin-collector — war which 

 will, ere long, play its part but too surely and take the eagle from 

 your mountains for ever.' 



" What are our County Councils about ? The powers given 

 them by the Wild Birds Protection Acts of 1880 and 1896 ought to 

 be enforced more vigorously and universally than they are. A period 

 of protection for the golden eagle is eminently desirable, and it is to 

 be hoped that the councils representing the counties in which the 

 golden eagles have recently been destroyed will make application to 

 the Home Secretary to deal with the matter in a way which will in 

 effect secure protection for the bird all the year round." 



The sentiments are admirable ; but we are somewhat perplexed 

 to find so competent an ornithologist as Mr. G. W. Murdoch of the 

 Yorkshire Weekly Post casting doubt on Mr. Collinson's statements : 

 " I do not believe," says he, "a golden eagle has been killed in York- 

 shire for nearly half a century." 



Buffaloes. 



The Scientific American for February 20 contains an interesting 

 account by G. E. Walch of the destruction of the buffalo in North 

 America, and of the attempts that are being made to domesticate and 

 preserve the few individuals that are left. There is a small herd in 

 the Texas Pan Handle, numbering less than 75, a larger one at 

 RavaUi, Montana, numbering nearly 200. The latter belongs to Mr. 

 C. AUard, who has crossed the wild animals with the polled Angus 

 stock, thus producing a breed more fitted to withstand bHzzards than 

 are ordinary cattle. There is a small herd of buffalo, numbering 20, 

 on Antelope Island in the midst of the Great Salt Lake, where during 

 1896 four calves were born. 



Further evidence of the age of the plant-bearing beds of South 

 Africa has just been brought before the Geological Society of London 

 by Mr. A. C. Seward, from material sent to him by Mr. David Draper, 

 of Johannesburg. Mr. Seward is led to the conclusion that these 

 beds are of Permo-Carboniferous age. We are inclined to believe, 

 however, that the evidence of the fishes and of the reptiles (as pointed 

 out by Professor Seeley) is more in accordance with a Permian or 

 even Triassic age than with a Carboniferous one. The " Lepidoden- 

 droid " plants, stated by Professor Seeley to occur in association with 

 Glossopteris, at AHwal North, have, however, not yet been seen or 

 examined by any botanical expert in this country. 



