234 Ornithology.— Botany. -^Earthquake. — Qreenland. 



ORNITHOLOGY OF ICELAND. 



Copenhagen: Natural History. — Mr. F. Faber, who re- 

 sided three years in Iceland, and travelled all over that moun- 

 tainous island, formed, while there, a large collection of birds 

 and their eggs, which are now in the Royal Museimi. He 

 has just published a preliminary notice of his discoveries, in 

 Latin, under the title of A Prodromus of Islandic Ornithology. 



NUMBER OF PLANTS CULTIVATED IN BRITAIN. 



Since the discovery of the New World, our English gardens 

 have produced 234-5 varieties of trees and plants from America, 

 and upwards of 1 700 from the Cape of Good Hope, in addi- 

 tion to many thousands which have been brought fi'om China, 

 the East Indies, New Holland, various parts of Africa, Asia, 

 and Europe; until the list of plants now cultivated in this 

 country exceeds 120,000 varieties. 



EARTHQUAKE IN THE NORTH OF ENGLAND. 



A smart shock of an earthquake was distinctly felt at Dun- 

 ston, near Newcastle, between one and two in the morning of 

 September the 18th, accompanied by a loud noise like distant 

 thunder. Several of the inhaljitants of the village were awakened 

 from their slmiibers, and much alarmed by the circumstance 

 of the chairs, tables, and other furniture in their houses being 

 removed ; and in one house the head of the clock case was 

 thrown down by the violence of the concussion. — Dtirham 

 Chronicle. 



CAPTAIN SCORESBy's DISCOVERIES IN GREENLAND. 



Tlie ship Baffin, Captain Scoresby jun., arrived here on 

 Thursday, from Greenland, with 195 tons of blubber, the pro- 

 duce of 9 whales. During the intervals of the fishery, Captain 

 Scoresby employed himself in making observations on the 

 geography and natural history of the long-lost eastern coast of 

 Greenland, which was within sight for three months. The 

 result, we understand, is a sun^ey of the eastern coast of that 

 almost unknown country, from lat. 75. N. to 69., comprising 

 an extent of coast, reckoning its numerous indentations, of 

 about 800 miles. Captain Scoresby discovered some extensive 

 inlets, from the number of which he is induced to consider the 

 whole country a large assemblage of islands. He landed on 

 various parts of the coast, and on each visit to the shore dis- 

 covered recent traces of inhabitants, and obtained fragments, 

 of their implements. It is important to geography, to know 

 that the form of this land surveyed by Captain Scoresby is 

 extremely unlike what it is represented in our best charts, and- 

 that the error in longitude, in most cases, was not less than 



15 degrees. 



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