24 



KANSAS Academy of science. 



TABLE II. — Showing Proportion of Ammonia and Nitric Acid in Some Rains. 



ADDITIONS TO KANSAS BIRDS. 



BY COL. N. S. GOSS, TOPEKA. 



Frosted Poor-will, Phalcenojiiilus nuttalli nitidus. A summer resident. Taken 

 at Neosho Falls and Manhattan. 



Little Brown Crane, Grus canadensis. This bird was omitted by oversight from 

 the catalogues, and subsequent lists as reported to this society. It is not uncom- 

 mon during migration. 



October, 1889. 



AETESIAN WELLS IN KANSAS, AND THE CAUSES OF THEIR FLOW. 



BY ROBERT HAY, F. G. S. A., JUNCTION CITY. 

 ^Abstract.] 



This paper mentions twelve localities where there are artesian wells in Kansas. 

 The Larned well has the largest flow — nearly three hundred gallons per minute — 

 and gives out a strong brine. There is a group of wells in Hamilton county, and 

 another group in Meade county, available for irrigation. 



The principal feature in the paper is the discussion of the causes of artesian flow. 

 The conditions resulting in the usual form of artesian wells, which are exempli- 

 fied by those mentioned above, are a porous rock, having an out-crop to catch the 

 rainfall of a region of some extent, and dipping toward the well with a layer of clay, 

 clay-shale, or other impervious material, above and below it, so that the water of the 

 porous stratum is inclosed as in a pipe, and it rises to the surface when the well- 

 driller pierces the upper impervious stratum. The cause of the rising of the water 

 in these conditions is hydrostatic pressure, just as it is in the rising of the water to 

 the tops of high buildings in the water service of a city. 



A well at Mound Valley, in Labette county, was described as illustrating the rise 

 of water to the surface without the necessary hydrostatic pressure, the column of 

 water being held up by an outflow of natural gas. This the writer termed gas- 

 l^ressure, which in this case is an efficient cause of artesian flow, and which in other 

 cases is probably a help. 



Wells in Morton county and in Pottawatomie county were described, having 



