February ii, 19 15] 



NATURE 



653 



The Spectrum of LiGHTXiNC^It is not ver\- often 

 that a very successful photograph of the spectrum of 

 lightning is obtained, but that secured bv Mr. A. 

 Steadworthy, and reproduced in the Journal of the 

 Royal Astronomical Society of Canada (September- 

 October, 19 14) is of this nature. The easiest way to 

 secure such photographs is by placing a prism or a 

 transparent replica grating in front of the camera lens. 

 In the case of the former the spectrum only is photo- 

 graphed, but in that ol the latter images of both the 

 flash and the spectrum are recorded side by side. Mr. 

 Steadworthy employed the first method, using a 60° 

 dense flint glass prism in front of a 2-in. lens of i6-in. 

 focus. The account is accompanied by the measure- 

 ments of the lines of the spectrum made by Mr. 

 J. B. Cannon, of the Ottawa Dominion Observatory. 

 The wave-lengths of fifty lines are given, and a com- 

 parison table is given containing the wave-lengths of 

 the lines measured in the fine spectrum obtained and 

 described by Mr. Fox in the Astrophysical Journal 

 (vol. xviii., p. 295). Mr. Steadworthy also secured ten 

 excellent stereoscopic photographs of lightning flashes, 

 some of which are reproduced in his article. 



Report of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Ob- 

 SERV.\TORY. — The director of the Astrophysical Obser\'a- 

 tory of the Smithsonian Institution, Prof. C. G. Abbot, 

 has issued his report for the year ending June, 1914. 

 This report contains a brief statement of the equipment 

 of the observatory, the work of the obsenatory at 

 Washington, and at Mount Wilson. It is shown that 

 progress has been made in the measurement of the 

 eft'ects produced by atmospheric water vapour on solar 

 and terrestrial radiation. New apparatus for measur- 

 ing sky radiation has been devised and perfected. A 

 most interesting account is given, including an illus- 

 tration, of special pyrheliometers for recording solar 

 radiation at great altitudes when attached to free 

 balloons. The highest elevation at which a radiation 

 record has been obtained was about 14,000 metres, or 

 nearly 45,000 ft. The results obtained tend to confirm 

 the adopted value of the solar constant of radiation. 

 A Tower telescope has been erected and put into opera- 

 tion on Mount Wilson. The tower is 50 ft. high and 

 equipped temporarily with a reflecting telescope of 

 i2-in. aperture and 75 ft. focal length. By means of 

 it the variability of the sun has been independently 

 confirmed, and it is stated that changes of the distribu- 

 tion of radiation over the sun's disc occur in corre- 

 lation with the changes of the sun's total radiation. 



ORNITHOLOGICAL NOTES. 



IN the report of the council of the Royal Societ>" 

 for the Protection of Birds, embodied in the 

 winter number of Bird Notes and News, it is stated 

 that four British lighthouses have now been fitted 

 with bird-perches. The same issue also contains the 

 results of the 1914 competitions for school challenge 

 shields in connection with " bird-and-tree day." 

 Despite a good series of essays from Woburn, the 

 Bedfordshire shield has been withdrawn, on account 

 of the lack of competitors ; Lancashire, on the other 

 hand, bids fair to receive the award of a shield during 

 the current year. 



In an article on the probable effect of the war in 

 the western area on birds, in La Nature for January 

 16, Dr. E. L. Trouessart expresses the opinion that 

 storks in Alsace and local ground-birds and partial 

 migrants throughout the area of conflict will be the 

 main sufferers. Night-flying migrants, on the other 

 hand, will probably steer clear of the chief areas of 

 conflict, which, looking at the subject in a wide sense, 

 are relatively small. In the neighbourhood of Arras 



NO. 2363, VOL. 94] 



the. country was reported to be the resort of myriatb 

 of crows in December, attracted doubtless by the rich 

 supply of food. 



Among the more notable birds observed in Hert- 

 fordshire in 1913, Mr. W. Bickerton records, in the 

 Transactions of the Hertfordshire Natural Histon. 

 Society for Januar}^ quail, snipe, and goldcrests as 

 breeding in the county, together with casual visits of 

 the oriole, hobby, and dotterel. 



In anticipation of a fuller notice in a forthcoming 

 issue of his Birds of Australia, Mr. G. M. 

 Mathews revises the classification of the frigate-birds 

 in vol. ii., No. 6, of the Austral Avian Record. 

 Hitherto only two species of these birds have been 

 recognised, fregata aquila and F. artel, the former 

 a widely spread type, split up by some ornithologists 

 into three or four local forms. Mr. Mathews, on the 

 other hand, restricts F. aquila to the Ascension Island 

 bird, both sexes of which are wholly black, with no 

 rust-colour on the white heads of the young. The 

 other frigate-birds hitherto classed with F. aquila are 

 for the most part identified with F. minor, of Gmelin, 

 the typical locality of which is taken to be Jamaica, 

 several subspecies, from the Seychelles, A'dabra, Lay- 

 san, the Galapagos, etc., being recognised. The 

 frigate-bird of Christmas Island, Indian Ocean, is 

 described as a new species, with the name of F. 

 andreivsi, and is characterised by the under-parts 

 being wholly white in the female and partially so in 

 the male. Lastly, we have F. ariel, tj-pically from 

 Torres Strait, characterised by the presence of a white 

 patch on the flanks of the cock, and of which three 

 local races are recognised. 



Hybridism in cockatoos forms the subject of an 

 article (illustrated by a coloured plate) by Dr. E. 

 Warren in vol. iii., pt. i, of the Annals of the Natal 

 Museum, dated September, 1914. A male of the 

 sulphur-crested Cacatua galerita, and a female of the 

 slender-beaked Licmetis nasica, have been kept for the 

 last eight years or so in a state of semi-confinement 

 in the open air at Pietermaritzburg. During the 

 latter portion of that period the female laid several 

 eggs, two of which were duly hatched. The two 

 hybrids, which are practically similar to one another, 

 are to a great extent intermediate in coloration and 

 plumage between their parents, although nearer to 

 the sulphur-crest than to the slender-beaked species, 

 the resemblance to the former being especially shown 

 by the stoutness and blackness of the beak, as well as 

 by the red loreal patch of the female parent being 

 replaced by orange, and by the total disappear- 

 ance of the red at the bases of the feathers behind the 

 eyes, so characteristic of the latter. Whether this 

 resemblance of the hybrids to their male parent is due 

 to prepotency in the latter, and the bearing of the 

 whole case on Mendelism, form the subject of a long 

 discussion by the author. 



In reference to a recent discussion with regard to 

 birds travelling northwards in autumn on the British 

 coasts, Mr. J. H. Gurney records in the Zoologist 

 for December, 19 14, that an immense series of flocks 

 of various species were seen fijnng northwards on 

 October 7 over Cromer, Northreps, and Overstrand, 

 the wind at the time being north. Mr. Gurney is of 

 opinion that such movements are annual, and that 

 after a short interval the wanderers would return 

 south. 



During a trip to eastern Siberia in the summer of 

 19 14 Miss Maud Haviland was fortunate enough to 

 come across the curlew-sandpiper breeding at Golchica, 

 at the mouth of the Yenisei. Eggs of this species, it 

 may be recalled, were collected by Mr. H. L. Popham, 

 in July, 1897, on the Kristovski Islands, which are a 

 considerable distance further down the . estuar\'. 



