Janvary, lOOL] 



KNOWLEDGE. 



in 



A FOG BOW. 



TO THE EDITORS OF KNOWLEDr.E. 



Sirs. — I slioiilil like to know if any of yo\ir roaders oau 

 explain a strange phouonienou which I saw whilst 

 travelling to Brighton from Hastings l)y train, about 

 7 o'clock ou the evening of the 30th of September last. 

 Tbe night was hazv. and looking through the oiieu window 

 I distinctly saw outlined against the sky a circle, or rather 

 sux oval-shaped bow enclosing a long cross ; tbe lower ]iart 

 of the vision being veiled in mist, the tones were neutral 

 and soft, though clearly defined. It disappeared from 

 view suddenly, and though I watched for quite half-an- 

 Lour, it did not appear again. The train at this time was 

 running through the flat marshy country, known, I believe, 

 as Pevensey Level, therefore skirting the sea-shore. A 

 picture of a similar appearauce in Whymper's "Scrambles 

 amongst the Aljjs," recalled the circumstance to me. 



Beckley. Mary Frasek. 



i3'b\t\xatv. 



HERBEKT SPENCER. 



It is with deep regret that we record the death of Mr. 

 Herbert Spencer, which occurred in the early morning of 

 the 8th of December, at his house in Brighton. 



The last survivor of the many eminent men of his time, 

 Spencer enjoyed the unique distinction of completing the 

 stupendous task he had set himself as the purpose of his 

 life, a task which oceuiiied him for the kmg [)eriod of 

 thirty-six years (1860-1896). It is doubtful whether the 

 history of letters contains a more remarkable instance of 

 the amazing results of courage and tenacity than is found 

 in the production of Spencer's Synthetic Philosophy. 

 •• How insane ray project must have looked to oulooker.s," 

 he says, when with his small resources frittered away, and 

 his health |)ermanently im[)aired by overtax of brain, he 

 was obliged to desist by reason of nervous breakdown 

 actually before the first chapter of the first volume was 

 finished. But the philosopher afterwards pursued his 

 course undeterred, and he completed it with the ex[)ression 

 of the modest satisfaction that losses, discouragements, 

 and shattered health had not prevented the fulfilment of 

 his long task. 



Born in Derby on the "i/th Ajjiil, 1820, the son of a 

 teacher of mathematics, he shared w'ith John Mill the 

 distinction of having his education directed entirely at 

 home, although in Spencer's case an uncle assisted the 

 father. But he never had any experience of school or 

 college, and he early abandoned his profession in order to 

 devote himself entirely to speculative thought. Spencer's 

 long career is singularly uneventful in personal history, 

 and it is certainly by no desire of his that the world knew 

 anything about him. But as a frequent contributor to 

 the Westminster Review, in his earlier days, Spencer was 

 brought into contact with many of its then brilliant 

 writers, and his striking originality was displayed in 

 association with Hamilton and the two Mills. From the 

 year 1861), when the philosopher first resolve<l to concien- 

 trate himself upon his great project, Spencer's own life is 

 little more than the story of the publication of the 

 successive parts of his system of Philosophy, until that 

 happy day in 1896, when he reached the close of his long 

 labour, and found pleasure in his emancipation. He had 

 the felicity to receive a congratulatory address from his 

 contemporaries eminent in science, literature, and 

 philosophy, and arising out of thiit address, Mr. Hubert 

 Herkomer painted the well-known portrait which is 



exhibited in the Tate Gallery, lu joining the signatories 

 to this address, Mr. Gladstone most aptlv expressed the 

 general feeling as to Spencer's unsellish labdurs ... "I 

 beg that you will, if you think pro]ier, set me down as an 

 approver of the request to Mr. Spencer, whose signal 

 abilities iind, rarer still, whose manful and seU'-dciiyiug 

 character are so justly objects of admiration,'' 



Bvitisl) (!5rnirt)olo{i;ical Notes. 



Conducted by Haury F. WiTiiEuiiT, f.z.s., m.h.o.u. 



Bird Migration in Solwaii, bi/ Roherl Sereice. J/.R.O.C. Cinnalx of 

 Scott. Nat. Hist., 1903, pp 193-20 !■). -This is an interesting iin'il 

 distinctly valuable article of actual obser\iition of birJ migration. Of 

 the arrival of birds, sucli as I'^inclics and Warblers, Mr. Service 

 writes: — " ... it requires the minutest attention to sec the indi- 

 vidual birds arrive one by one. They seem to drop literally from t;he 

 clouds Let one's attention be diverted for a moment, lu'xt time you 

 look at a particular place there are oiu', or two, lU- tlireo birds that 

 were not on the spot last time you i:lanced at it." Of tlie call notes 

 heard during the progress of a great migratory movement at night, he 

 writes: — "There is not one of us but will be confounded and 

 humiliated to Ond that a very large jtroportion of the sounds cannot 

 I)e assigned to any known species witli certainty. Of course, the 

 e.vplanation lies in the fact that birds when on migration use notes 

 tliat arc not required at other periods of their lives." Of the altitude 

 at which birds migrate the writer stiit(-s : — " Skylarks and Swallows 

 are about the only birds T ;im acquainted with that migrate at a com- 

 paratively low level. (J\ute invarial)ly other birds that I have seen 

 actually starting on tlu'ir long journey mount very quickly upwards in 

 a slanting direction, till they reach a height .at which they can only be 

 recognized by some peculiarity of llight. " There are many inte- 

 resting observations in this paper. Mr. Service has not read, appa- 

 rently, Mr. Ivigle Clarke's valuable papers on the subject, and the 

 records of his own actual observations have been uninfluenced, 

 seemingly, by those of others. 



Barred Warbler in Lincolnshire {Zooloffixt, 1903, p. .363). — In an 

 accouut of the migration of birds in North-east Liucolushirc during 

 the autumn of 190'i, Mr. (>. U. Caton Ifaigh re.;ords that he shot a 

 young fem-ile of this Warbler .at Nortli Cotes on September 2uth. 

 This is, I believe, the third specimen of the Barred Warbler which 

 Mr. llaigh has recorded, and the eighteenth or so which has occurred 

 in the British Islands. 



Sabine's Gull in Yorkshire {Zoologist, 19J3, pp. 3.")3, 301, 430). 

 —The Rev. Julian G. Tuck has now recorded the occurrence of five 

 (four adults) Sabine's GruUs in September and October last on the 

 Yorkshire coast. This arctic species not infrequently visits our 

 shores in autumn, but most of the previous records have referred to 

 immature birds. 



Bare Birds in Kent and Sussex {Zoolor/ist, 1903, pp. -US- 12.5). — 

 Mr. N. F. Ticehurst here tabulates the renv.irkable number of rare 

 birds which it has fallen to the lot of ornitliologists in Sussex and 

 Kent tj recori during the last twelve mmtlis. The most noteworthy 

 of these have already been reported in these columns. 



All aintribntioas to the column, either in the v:aij of notes or 

 phol(i(jraphs, should he forwarded to Harey F. Witiierhv, 

 at the OJice of Knowledge, 326, High Holborn, London. 



i^otcs. 



Zoological. — According to recent information, the 

 white rhinoceros (Rhinoceros simus), at one time believed 

 to be all but extinct, appears to be comparatively common 

 on tiie northern fmntier of the Congo Free Stale and the 

 adjacent districts of the Sudan. 



The important anthropological and zoological collections 

 brought home by Messrs. Robinson and Aunandalc from 

 the Malay Peninsula are to be described in a new publici- 

 tion, entitle 1 Fasciculi Maiayense>i. The first part, con- 

 taining an account of Mammals, by Mr. J. L. Bonhote, 

 has already been issued. Sixty-four is the approximate 

 number of mammalian species included in the collection, 

 of which eight are described as new. 



