November 5, 1914] 



NATURE 



265 



to occur on the Australian mainland until last 

 year. The first is a local race of Georfroy's parrot 

 (Geoffroyus persotiatus or G. geoffroyi) of 'limor, 

 and the second of the red-sided parrot {Eclectus 

 pectoralis) of New Guinea. That such common and 

 brilliantly coloured birds should have so long escaped 

 detection in a countr}' like Northern Queensland is 

 ver\' remarkable. 



In an article on the ecological relations of bird- 

 distribution, published in the July issue of British 

 Birds, Mr. S. E. Brock remarks that while the com- 

 position of a country's avifauna is, in one sense, 

 directly related to the present and former configuration 

 of land-masses, the form of its dispersal within the 

 area is immediately attributable to the environmental 

 control. In other words, "the efficient causes of 

 separation between bird-groups in this country' are 

 less geographical than ecological ; the specific environ- 

 ment is the true ' faunal area.' The group of species 

 attached to a specific habitat compose an association 

 the units of which are primarily inter-related through 

 the connecting link of a common environment." 



As the result of a recent comprehensive inquiry, 

 by the issue of circulars, Mr. H. G. Alexander is 

 enabled to give, in the September issue of British 

 Birds, a full account of the present status of the land- 

 rail in the British Isles. Throughout the south and 

 east of England, at least from Devonshire to Lincoln- 

 shire and inclusive of the south-east Midlands, this 

 once abundant species no longer breeds regularly, 

 although a few pairs nest annually in most counties. 

 In South Wales, the West of England, the Midlands, 

 and so far north as the Pennine Range and the 

 Yorkshire moors, a general decrease in numbers, 

 apparently of more recent date than that in the east 

 and south, is now in progress; but in the Pennines 

 and the districts west of the same no. decided diminu- 

 tion is noticeable, landrails being ^till abundant 

 throughout this area, except on the moors. Every- 

 where the birds are recorded as mainly frequenting 

 grass or clover, and seldom cereals. Whether this 

 was always the case, or whether they formerly nested 

 in corn, has an important bearing on several of the 

 theories which have been advanced to explain the 

 diminution in the numbers of the species. 



In the same issue is recorded the occurrence on 

 May 6, 19 14, of a pair of Riippell's warbler (Sylvia 

 ruehpelli) at Baldslow, Hastings. This is thie first 

 British record of this rare east European species. 



To the Transactions of the New Zealand Institute 

 for 191;^ (vol. xlvi) Prof. W. B. Benham contributes 

 an article on the nomenclature of New Zealand birds, 

 based on the Reference List of Mathews and Iredale. 



Another article in the same volume, by Mr. H. 

 Hill, gives the fullest account hitherto published of 

 the history of the early discoveries of moa-remains 

 in New Zealand, together with a discussion as to 

 their geological age, and the probable date of exter- 

 mination of these giant birds. Contrary to the now 

 generally accepted view that moas were killed off by 

 the Maoris within the last few centuries, the author 

 affirms that these birds lived during the late Pleisto- 

 cene — the epoch of intense volcanic action in New 

 Zealand — and that thev all perished suddenly as the 

 result of such seismic disturbances and the emission of 

 poisonous vapours long previous to the advent of the 

 Maoris, or any other race, in the islands. Basing his 

 views solely on the result of observations on the east 

 coast, Mr. Hill proceeds to observe that none of the 

 numerous moa-remains found in caverns show any 

 evidence of having been touched by men or dogs ; 

 and he considers that when the great seismic 

 cataclysm occurred all the birds rushed to the upland 

 caves for refuge — where they were in many cases 

 imprisoned by the fall of pumice in front of the 

 NO. 2349, VOL. 94] 



entrance — while others perished in the open, choked 

 by clouds of ashes or by noisome vapours ; the remains 

 of these latter being subsequently carried down to 

 the lowlands by floods. No reference, it may be 

 added, is made to the comparatively fresh condition 

 of moa-remains in many districts, or to their alleged 

 association with Maori camping-places and camp-fires. 

 In an article on birds observed last spring during a 

 yachting cruise amid the Scottish islands, published 

 in the August number of the Scottish Naturalist, the 

 Duchess of Bedford directs attention to the vast num- 

 bers of fulmars snared at that season by the natives 

 of St. Kilda, who bring them in by boat-loads. Such 

 a practice, remarks her Grace, seems short-sighted on 

 the part of people who depend largely upon these birds 

 for a living ; but, nevertheless, the fulmars still main- 

 tain their numbers. On the "Stack," which was also 

 visited, the number of gannets has been estimated 

 by one obser\-er at 8000, and by a second at 50,000; a 

 revised estimate is between 5000 and 6000. 



R. L. 



ENGINEERIXG AT THE BRITISH 

 ASSOCIATIOX. 



THE proceedings in Section G opened at Melbourne 

 with a paper by Prof. Petavel on aviation re- 

 search. The author described the results of recent 

 experiments on the air resistance of various shaped 

 bodies at different speeds, and also on the lifting 

 power of planes of various shapes. This was followed 

 by a paper on railways and motive power by Prof. 

 Dalby, who showed a number of curves i elating to 

 the development and cost of working of British rail- 

 ways, and discussed briefly the relative advantages of 

 steam and electric traction. Mr. Hedley Thomson 

 followed with a paper on a transmission system suit- 

 able for heavy internal-combustion locomotives, in 

 which he maintained that the difficulties of the in- 

 ternal-combustion locomotive were mainly due to the 

 want of a suitable variable-speed control mechanism, 

 and that these difficulties were overcome by the 

 Thomas transmission gear, which he described. 

 Curves were shown illustrating the high efficiency and 

 other advantages to be obtained in this way. The 

 internal-combustion locomotive is of special import- 

 ance in Australia because of fuel and water difficulties. 

 A paper was then read on the Canberra plan by Mr, 

 W. B. Griflin, who was awarded the premium offered 

 bv the Commonwealth for the best town-planning 

 scheme for the new Federal capital. The paoer dealt 

 with the principles underlying the design of such a 

 town and their applications to the site at Canberra. 

 The Government exhibited a number of elevations 

 showing what Canberra will look like if and when 

 the present scheme is carried through. The conclud- 

 ing paper on the first day was bv Mr. Kirkpatrick, on 

 the development of the Port of London. 



On the second day Dr. Rosenhain read a paper 

 on the behaviour of metals under strain, and showed 

 a large number of photomicrographic slides illustrat- 

 ing the cn.-stalline structure of metals under various 

 conditions of strain and temperature. He showed that 

 the various phenomena could be explained on Beilby's 

 hvpothesis of the amorphous phase in metals. Prof. 

 Dalby then described an attachment for testing 

 machines by means of which the stress-strain diagram 

 is photographically recorded as the stress is applied. 

 He also showed some photomicrographic slides of the 

 structure of metals. A well-illustrated paper by Mr. 

 Humphrey on the Humphrey pump was next read. 

 The discussion showed that Australian engineers were 

 fully alive to the importance of this pump for irriga- 

 tion, but several speakers regretted the apparent de- 



