January 25, 19 12] 



NATURE 



427 



Although some of the former do considerable damage to 

 trees, and even to telegraph poles, they more than com- 

 pensate these injuries by the destruction of insects, some 

 of which belong to species eaten by no other birds. For 

 the typical sap-suckers little or no defence is possible, as 

 they feed largely on the juices and tissues of trees, and do 

 not prey upon any specially harmful insects. In extracting 

 the growing, or cambium, layer beneath the bark they 

 frequently so damage the trees that they are weakened and 

 crippled, or even killed, while the timber is in many cases 

 rendered more or less useless. Two species of sap-sucker 

 (Sphyrapicus varius and 5. ruber) are so mischievous that 

 their destruction is considered justifiable. It is added, how- 

 ever, that " as there are twenty species of woodpeckers in 

 the United States, and only two of them are under indict- 

 ment, great care should be exercised to distinguish the 

 real offenders. When it is necessary to destroy sap- 

 suckers, poison should be used, because of the small risk 

 to other birds." 



The " casual list " of British birds has been further 

 augmented by the capture on October 30, 191 1, at Fair 

 Isle, of a male of the pine-bunting (Emberiza leucocephala). 

 Mr. Eagle Clarke, who records the occurrence in the 

 January number of The Scottish Naturalist, states that at 

 the time of capture the characteristic chestnut of the head, 

 neck, and throat was obscured by white tips to the 

 features, which are worn off during winter. The colouring 

 of the remainder of the upper parts is very similar to that 

 of the yellow-hammer. The species is a native of Siberia, 

 from the Ural to Amurland, but it winters in northern 

 China, Mongolia, Turkestan, and the Himalaya, straggling 

 to Turkey, Austria, Italy, and the south of France. 



In the same communication Mr. Clarke records a 

 sprosser, or thrush-nightingale (Luscinia, or Daulias 

 luscinia) at Fair Isle in the spring of 191 1. The species 

 ranges from Denmark to S.W. Siberia, visiting E. Africa 

 in winter. The upper parts are darker and more olive 

 than in the nightingale, the tail is dark brown with only 

 a tinge of rufous, and the feathers of the breast are darker, 

 with a spotted appearance. The only other British occur- 

 rence was at Smeath, Kent, in October, 1904, but this has 

 been regarded as doubtful. 



Mr. Clarke likewise records Baird's sandpiper {Tringa 

 hairdi), of which two previous British occurrences are 

 known, at St. Kilda on September 28, igii ; while in a 

 separate note in the same issue the woodchat-shrike is also 

 added for the first time to the Scottish list. 



Nor does this exhaust the tale of rare stragglers to 

 Great Britain, for in the January number of Witherby's 

 British Birds are recorded, for the first time, two examples 

 of the American peregrine {Falco peregrinus anatutn), the 

 one taken in Leicestershire on June 14, 1891, and the 

 other in Lincolnshire on September 28, 1910. They are the 

 first British records for this race, which is characterised by 

 its large size and dark plumage. 



To the Journal of the South African Ornithologists' 

 Union for December, 1911, Mr. Alwin Haagner contributes 

 a second note on the presence of a deciduous hook at the 

 extremity of each half of the beak in nestling honey- 

 guides. The occurrence of these curious hooks in a second 

 specimen, and that belonging to a different species, renders 

 it certain that the first example was not a " sport." 



To the January number of The Zoologist Messrs. F. J. 

 Stubbs and A. J. Rowe contribute an article entitled " The 

 Prehistoric Origin of the Common Fowl " — certainly a 

 somewhat curious designation for a communication of 

 which the pith is based on historical data. In place of 

 the domesticated fowl having been evolved from the wild 

 Gallus bankiva in or near India, and reaching Europe by 

 way of Persia, whence it was carried first to Athens and 

 then to Rome, the authors cite pictorial and other evidence 

 to show that the bird was known to the Mesopotamians 

 and Egyptians so early as about 4600 B.C., and from this 

 and other evidence they arrive at the conclusion that its 

 original home was probably in Central Asia. Finally, they 

 state that " the evidence appears to indicate that tho bird 

 \i.e. the wild Gallus bankiva] was introduced to India by 

 invaders — a race known as Dravidians — from the north- 

 west at an unknown date, and that the species is now 

 feral there." Such a suggestion is altogether unreasonable. 

 It may be added that when alluding to the sheep of ancient 



NO. 2204, VOL. 88] 



Egypt, the authors make no reference to the work of 

 Messrs. Lortet and Guillard on the mummified fauna of 

 that country published in the Archives of the Lyons 

 Museum. 



Dr. Van Oort has favoured us with a reprint of an 

 article from vol. xxxiv. of Notes from the Leyden 

 Museum on bird-marking in the Netherlands, which was 

 commenced in the spring of 191 1. It is believed that 

 1 165 birds, representing thirty-one species, were ringed 

 during the year, out of which twenty-two had been re- 

 covered at the beginning of November last. 



In The Victorian Naturalist of December, 191 1, Mr. 

 E. B. Nicholls records the marvellous mimicking power of 

 the lyre-bird, as heard in the Bass Valley. The sounds 

 imitated comprised the cry of the koala, or native bear, 

 the notes or calls of seventeen different species of birds 

 (including the alarm notes and whirring of the wings of 

 a flock of startled parraquets), the creaking of the boughs 

 of trees in the wind, and the " puffing " of locomotive 

 engines. 



R. L. 



THE INSTITUTE OF METALS. 



T^HE annual meeting was held in London on January 16 

 and 17. Owing to sudden illness, the president- 

 designate, Prof. W. Gowland, F.R.S., could not attend, 

 and his address on " Copper and its Alloys in Early 

 Times " (of which we hope to give an account later) 

 was read by the secretary, Mr. G. Shaw Scott. Sir Henry 

 J. Oram, K.C.B., Engineer-in-Chief to the Royal Navy, 

 occupied the chair. 



Among the papers read the following may be men- 

 tioned : — 



Mr. G. D. Bengough, in a paper on a study of the 

 properties of alloys at high temperatures, described a series 

 of tensile tests on selected metals and alloys. The tests 

 were carried out at temperatures varying from the ordinary 

 temperature to the neighbourhood of the melting points 

 of the materials used. Unexpected results have been 

 obtained. The curves showing the variation of mechanical 

 properties with temperature show certain " mechanical 

 critical points " in the neighbourhood of which the djrec- 

 tion of the curves alters rapidly, and this phenomenon 

 occurs even in the case of commercially pure metals, such 

 as copper and aluminium. 



In a paper by Mr. R. H. Greaves on the influence of 

 oxygen on copper containing arsenic or antimony, experi- 

 ments were described which were made to determine the 

 influence of oxygen on certain mechanical and physical 

 properties of copper containing either arsenic or antimony 

 in quantities up to 05 per cent. With increasing arsenic 

 the metal may take up more and more oxygen without 

 suffering deterioration in its capacity for rolling. The 

 action of oxygen on copper containing antimony is similar. 

 The ductility was similarly affected by oxygen. Increase 

 in oxygen from 01 5 to 04 per cent, causes a rapid 

 diminution in elongation. Oxygen has little effect on the 

 hardness until a limit is passed ; above this the hardness 

 increases rapidly. Measurements of electrical resistance 

 show that oxygen diminishes the conductivity of copper 

 containing arsenic, but increases that of copper containing 

 antimony. 



Mr. Philip's paper, on contributions to the history of 

 corrosion : the corrosion of condenser tubes by contact 

 with electronegative substances, was devoted to an 

 examination of the relatively small number of cases ex- 

 perienced by the Royal Navy in which localised corrosion 

 occurs in condenser tubes made of Admiralty composition. 

 The causes of 90 per cent, of the cases of corrosion 

 observed in the establishments of the Royal Navy have 

 long been known. The main problems which remain to 

 be solved are the explanation of the causes of rather less 

 than 10 per cent, of the cases which are now observed, 

 and, secondly, the devising of means of preventing these 

 and all other cases of corrosion superior to the method of 

 protector bars, as at present employed. 



In a note on the nomenclature of alloys, Dr. W. Rosen- 

 hain raised the question of the nomenclature of non-ferrous 

 alloys, and put forward some tentative suggestions to 

 serve as a basis for discussion. Confusion in nomenclature 



