Dec. 7, 1876] 



NATURE 



117 



Now I suppose there is not a sportsman in the country who 

 bas not witnessed these phenomena scores and scores of times, 

 md I dare say there is scarcely one of that numerous body who, 

 ;f asked to assign the cause of these phenomena, would hesitate 

 'or a n oment in his reply. From the time he first saw a 

 wd tower, he has probably satisfied himself that the current 

 lypoihesis is the only one that can expluin the curious facts ; 

 md if his interrogator should venture to doubt that cerebral in- 

 ury is this cause, he would probably point to a drop of blood in 

 ;he beak as a final answer to such scepticism. This drop of 

 jlood has doubtless always seemed to him f uch a complete verifi- 

 ion of the current hypothesis, that he has probably never waited 

 o ask himself the followini:; questions : — i. Why is towering so 

 ;ommon ? The head of a partridge or grouse is a small object, 

 md therefore not hkely to be often hit. Moreover, common 

 sense may show that if towering is due to cerebral injury, such 

 njury must be of a very local and definite character as regards 

 ;he brain : some particular part of that organ must be injured 

 :o the exclusion of all other parts, or else the effect would be 

 nstant death. This consideration would lead us to expect that 

 lowering, if it is due to cerebral injury, should be of exceedingly 

 rare occurrence. 2. Why does a bird always fly some consider- 

 ible distance before towering ? If the action is due to cerebral 

 njury, we should expect the former to ensue immediately upon 

 he infliction of the latter. 3. Why is the distance which a bird 

 hes btfore towermg so variable ? 4. Why is the height to which 

 it does tower so variable ? 5. Why is it that birds tower most 

 ^equently when shot from behind ? 6. Why is it that we 

 iever see the hole in the skull through which the pellet has 

 tassed ? 



j In view of these difficulties besetting the ordinary hypothesis, 

 Ind in the hope of ascertaining the exact seat of cerebral injury 

 J this hypothesis were the true one, I have last year and thi» 

 ear dissected a number of partridges which I had observed to 

 ;pwer, and in every case I found the cause of death to be the 

 kme, viz., pulmonary hsemorrhage. In all my specimens the 

 ings were gorged with extravasated blood. It thus becomes 

 possible to doubt that we have here the true cause of tower- 

 ig; and, as is al.vays the case with true causes, examination 

 ill show that it is sufficient to explain all the effects. Towering 

 common, because the lungs expose a large area to receive the 

 lOt, and an area which is especially liable to be crossed by a 

 ngle pellet from a bad marksman when, as is most usual, the 

 rd. is shot from behind. The bird always flies a considerable 

 stance after being hit, because it takes time for the blood to 

 turinto the spongy texture of the lungs from the open ends of 

 e severed blood-vessels. The distance flown is variable, because 

 depends on the size and number of the severed blood-vessels — 

 ., the rapidity of the bleeding — which of course is also variable. 

 le height to which the bird towers is variable, because depend- 

 on the same cause. The drop of blood in the beak comes 

 ^m the bleeding lungs through the wind-pipe— the latter organ 

 most of my dissections having been found full of clotted 

 x)d. Lastly, we do not find any indications, either externally 

 internally, of cerebral injury, for the simple reason that no 

 ;h injury has taken place. 



A.ny one who is not a physiologist may here ask, Why does 

 Imonary haemorrhage give rise to such very peculiar movements 

 those that occur in towering ? The answer must certainly be, 

 t in these towering movements — which, be it remembered, 

 y take place immediately before death — we have to do with 

 characteristically convulsive movements which in all animals 

 k the last stages of asphyxia. That in birds these move- 

 should show themselves mainly in the wings, might, I 

 ik, be reascnal)Iy expected, seeing that the pectorals are the 

 pal muscles in the body — and all sportsmen are aware how 

 ..rticular birds in question exhibit violent fluttering motions 

 eir wings when dying from any violent cause, just as 

 :s, under similar circumstances, exhibit violent galloping 

 _ ..ns of their principal muscle-masses in the hind legs. But 

 J the convulsive movements of asphyxia should show them- 

 es in these birds in the form of upward flight, is a question 

 ch I cannot answer. It seems, however, to be a question of 

 ic interest to the physiologist, and if worked out might pos- 

 f tend to elucidate that obscure subject, the mechanism of 

 It. Of course to investigate the phenomena of towering, 

 lyxia of birds would require to be produced in the labo- 

 ry ; and here I must leave the matter in other hands, for 

 lUgh I have a licence to suffocate as many birds as I can in 

 Ursuit of sport, I have no licence to suffocate a single bird 

 e pursuit of science. 



And, in conclusion, may I suggest that those sportsmen who 

 annually conduct their experiments on asphyxia by the thousand, 

 should endeavour to glean from them one result of some little 

 value to science ? It would be of interest to know what birds 

 tower and what birds do not So far as my own observation 

 extends, the peculiarity in question seems to be confined to 

 members of the grouse genus, nearly all the endemic species of 

 which I have observed to tower. But, excepting those species, 

 I have never known any other bird to do so. By publishing this 

 notice in vour columns, therefore, I hope to obtain information 

 from any of your readers who may have observed the well-known 

 phenomena in birds of other genera. George J. Romanes 



Squirrels 



On the lawn before the window near which I am writing 

 is erected a tripod of three lofty poles, at the summit of which 

 is suspended a basket containing nuts and walnuts. The squirrels, 

 of which there are many in the shrubberies and adjoining planta- 

 tions, ascend these poles, extract a nut from the basket, and 

 quickly make their way down and across the lawn, in various 

 parts of which they bury their nuts, scratching a hole in the 

 green turf, putting in a nut, filling up the hole, and, lastly, with 

 much energy, patting the loose materials with their feet till the 

 filling-up is made firm and solid. This morning for a consider- 

 able time only one squirrel was at work, giving me a better 

 opportunity of observing the mode of opera'.ion. His journeys 

 were made in all directions, and varied from 5 feet to nearly 100 

 yards, never, so far as I could observe, going twice to the same 

 place or even nearly so. The squirrels, I am told, forget the 

 spots where they hide the nuts, and in the following spring the 

 lawn, which is very sp.-icious, is dotted with the young plants of 

 nuts and walnuts. As the colours of flowers attracting bees and 

 moths promote fertilisation, so the racy flavour of a nut, 

 irresistible to a squirrel, contributes to the distribution of 

 its kind. 



Turvey Abbey, November Henry H. Higgins 



Mr. Harris's Challenge to Mathematicians 



In an advertisement in Nature (vol. xv., p. xxxviii.) Mr. 

 Harris (Kuklos) challenges mathematicians " to examine and 

 disprove if they can " his published demonstration of the value 

 of IT. Presumably he reads this publication ; if so, we would 

 direct his attention to an article on " Cyclometers and some 

 other Paradoxers " in vol. xii., p. 560, vol. xiii., p. 28. The 

 part which is concerned with his approximation will be found 

 on p. 29. Reasoning, however, which we venture to think will 

 satisfy mathematicians, may not, we fear, convince Mr. Harris. 

 The Writer ok the Article -« 



December 4 



A ZOOLOGICAL STATION ON THE NORTH 

 SEA 



REFERENCE was made in Nature (vol. xiv. p. 535) 

 to the resolutions passed at the recent meeting of 

 the Association of German Naturalists and Physicians at 

 Hamburg, as to the establishment of zoologico-botanical 

 stations on the German coast. The distinguished names 

 of those appointed to draw up a memorandum, which is 

 to be presented to the Imperial Chancellor, the Bundes- 

 rath, and the Governments of the several States of the 

 Empire, will no doubt be of the greatest service in secur- 

 ing success to a scheme so universally approved of by all 

 students of biology. 



The following is a brief sketch of similar endeavours 

 made in Holland a year ago and of the results arrrived at 

 during the summer of 1876 :— The Netherlands Zoological 

 Association, at a meeting held in November, 1875, recog- 

 nised the necessity of founding an establishment on the 

 Dutch coast, where anatomical and microscopical inves- 

 tigations of the fauna and flora of the North Sea might 

 be carried on at leisure, and which could at the same time 

 be made serviceable for physical, chemical, and meteoro- 



