XOTES 



515 



After a somewhat hazanlous voyage, in 

 which their ship, the "Dora," was seriously 

 hampered by ice fU)es in Berinij Sea, they 

 finally arrived at Xaknek Lake by June 10, 

 iuiil in AuLiust. a wireless message an- 

 nuunced the successful termination of the 

 season's -work. The topographic survey be- 

 gun last year was extemled to the shore of 

 Bering Sea, adding about liftt'cii luindrcd 

 square miles to the map and completing a 

 section across the base of the Alaska Pen- 



Liewtenant Leo E. Miller is ihief observer in 

 aviation at Camp Jackson, South Carolina. He is 

 the author of a forthcoming book, In tlw Wilds of 

 South Antprica, recounting a story of travel and 

 bird study while engaged in the work of the 

 American Museum expeditions 



insula from Katmai Bay to Xaknek Lake, 

 thus furnishing data for an accurate topo- 

 graphic map of the region. The first ac- 

 curate measurement of the temperatures of 

 volcano vents was obtained, through the 

 use of pyrometers supplied by the geophysi- 

 cal laboratory of the Carnegie Institution. 

 The highest temperature measured was 430 

 degrees Centigrade. The part}' reached 

 Seattle in September, returning overland. 



The new Whitlock Premier jiriiitiiig press 

 latelv installed at the American Museum of 



Natural History is handling the various pub- 

 lications of the institution in good shape 

 under the direction of Mr. Stephen Klassen. 

 All Museum printing with the exception of 



tlic .l(Mi;.\.\i, will licnccfortli lie ilone 

 through tlic iiK'diuiii of this press, which has 

 four times tlie capacity of the small press 

 ju'cviously in use. The work is further 

 facilitated by a iiKHHityjic riiacliin(',ob\iating 

 the necessity of setting ty|ic by hand. 



Ohsekveks have noted that as a rule birds 

 on the battle front in Europe pay little at- 

 tention to tlie noise and confusion around 

 them. When a shell burst through the roof 

 of a shed in the rafters of which swallows 

 were nesting, the birds quickly took advaii- 

 tage of the new opening when flying liack 

 and forth to feed their young. Acconling 

 to H. Thoburn Clark, British ornithologist 

 and soldier, the masked sites of guns are 

 favorite nesting places. A brood of four 

 young blackbirds was hatched within four 

 feet of the muzzle of a gun ; and when a 

 German shell destroyed the stump of an 

 apple tree in which a pair of blackcaps ha<l 

 made their home, they built in th? adjoining 

 stump and reared their brood successfully. 

 The nest of a pair of hedge swallows in the 

 hub of a broken wheel was continually under 

 fire, yet the parental instinct of the birds 

 exceeded their fear and they fed their young 

 in disregard of dropping shrapnel and 

 bursting shells. Obliviousness to danger 

 often proves fatal, however, as is shown by 

 the large numbers of dead birds found in 

 the woods that have been exposed to a gas 

 attack, and by the complete destruction of the 

 bird life of the forests near Verdun through 

 the effects of bombardment. It is said that 

 droves of magpies have been driven from 

 France by gunfire and have settled in Eng- 

 land. At St. Omer, France, jackdaws have 

 been known to leave their homes in the 

 church steeples and attack passing aero- 

 planes, to which birds ordinarily seem to pay 

 little attention. 



^Ik. Leslie Si'IEK has returned from cen- 

 tral Arizona where he examined during the 

 early summer prehistoric ruins in the White 

 Mountains and the Rio Verde Valley. Later 

 he visited the little-known Havasupai In- 

 dians, who live on a tributary of the Grand 

 Canon of the ( 'olora lo. 



