\7^ 



jVATC/RE 



[January 19, 191 1 



" The observatory, however, is not very easy to find 

 in the labyrinth of the world-city. It is well concealed 

 behind the great South Kensington Museum, in a back- 

 yard of the museum, with access to it through an 

 insignificant-looking side entrance in the Exhibition Road. 

 The observatory buildings themselves, five or six in 

 number, also present a very plain appearance, giving the 

 impression, when seen from a distance, of being part of 

 a travelling menagerie or circus. 



" But on passing within these wooden walls and tent- 

 doors one is deeply impressed by the wonderful instruments 

 and apparatus with which Sir Norman Lockyer and his 

 son, Dr. William Lockyer, aided by a 

 staff of assistants, draw forth the sun's 

 secrets by astronomical, spectroscopic, 

 and photographic means. The instru- 

 mental equipment of the observatory is 

 probably unique of its kind, and in the 

 meteorology of the future the Lockyers' 

 Solar Physics Observatory in South 

 Kensington will rank among the first to 

 be counted with." 



Since that time I have followed the 

 publications from the observatory with 

 much interest, observing the great pro- 

 gress in all branches of solar inquiry 

 and its relations to meteorological and 

 other terrestrial phenomena. It is my 

 sincere hope that the new position of 

 your observatory may be such that you, 

 dear Sir, and your admirable scientific 

 staff, may carry on your work on the 

 same lines as before, untroubled by 

 difficulties arising from local disturb- 

 ances. 



I am, dear Sir, 



Sincerely yours, 



Aksel S. Steen. 



Vice-Director of the Norwegian 

 Meteorological Institute., 



President of the Norwegian Geo- 

 graphical Society. 



SOLWAY BIRDS .^ 



COUNTY histories of birds have 

 followed each other in such 

 rapid succession during the past feu- 

 years that the majority of those the 

 geographical situation of which gives 

 them special importance, have found 

 historians. This the latest addition 

 deals with the avifauna of Dumfries- 

 shire arid the Solway area, which is 

 to say that the neighbouring counties 

 of Kirkcudbright and Wigton are in- 

 cluded in the author's purview. Mr. 

 Gladstone's survey, therefore, covers 

 the whole of the very interesting 

 south-west corner of Scotland along 

 the shores of which the Solway ebbs 

 and flows. 



The region is indeed very for- 

 tunate in its historian. He has sup- 

 plied all that the ornithologist can 

 wish to know concerning the 

 occurrence of its birds. His book 

 is also a meritorious production from tht pub- 

 lishers' and bookbinders' point of view. It is light to 

 hold and very attractive on account of its excellent 

 paper, bold, clear type, and the beauty of its illustra- 

 tions. Messrs. \\'itherby, the publishers, one of whom 

 is a well-known ornithologist, now appear as the 

 worthy rivals in London of the distinguished place 

 which the house of Douglas in Edinburgh has so long 



* " The Birds of Dumfriesshire— a Contribution to the Fauna of the 

 Solway Area." By Hugh S. Gladstone. Pp. xcix+482. (London : 

 WUherby and Co., 1910.) Price 25J. net. 



held for the production of ornate books on natural 

 history. 



Mr. Gladstone has added interest to his work by 

 placing on record the names, with a short biography, 

 of each of the ornithologists of the county, of whom 

 from about 1650 there appear to have been a goodl\ 

 number. Among them occur such well-known or dis- 

 tinguished names as Captain Clark Kennedy, Robert 

 Gray, Dr. Grierson, Sir William Jardine, William 

 Laidlaw (Sir \\'alter Scott's amanuensis), the Rev. 

 Hugh Macpherson, and Sir John Richardson. 



Short eareJ Owl on the Nest, photographed by Mr. F. Barber-Starkey. 

 Dumfriesshire," by Hugh S. Gladstone. 



From "The Birds of 



NO. 2 15 I, VCL. 85] 



naturalist to the Franklin Arctic expedition, and the 

 dfscoverer of Huxley. 



The physical features of the county, which embraces 

 an, area of a little more than 686,000 acres of land sur- 

 face and 21,000 of water and foreshore, are very varied. 

 The northern part is mountainous, rising into hills 

 more than 2000 feet, •" intersected by glens and 

 valleys"; the southern "breaks into three great 

 ' dales,' named from the Nith, the Annan, and the 

 Esk." The wide Solway firth is an area of special 

 importance to the natural history of the district, for 



