March. 1911. 



KNOWLEDGE. 



93 



him, though he had not. until I pointed out the 

 resemblance in habit between the Lapwing and the 

 Ringed Plover, noticed that this was the case. Mr. 

 Forrest wrote me as follows: "I was struck hv \-our 

 remarks as to the behaviour of Peewits nesting bv 

 the sea. Though I hardl}- noticed it at the time, I 



should say, is of long standing. It is a curious fact 

 that the Ringed Plover's tactics are identical along 

 the sea-coast. Is this mere coincidence, or were 

 the habits of the Lapwing originally like those of 

 the Ringed Plo\-er, and has it modified its breeding 

 habits when nesting inland ? Its migratorv habits 



Ff-otu n /'//, 



P~.ivh:i: /■!• /(•. .1. (,". .!/,.<,,•, 



Lapwing. Ringed Pluver. Oyster Tern and Little Tern, nesting together. 



now remember that the\' leave the nest ijiiite 

 unobserved, and do not tly around in the wa\' we 

 always see them inland." 



It seems probable, from the uniform shape of the 

 five eggs found, that the Lapwing nests habitualh" in 

 the same situation at the locality named, and that 

 the habit it has acquired, or exhibits, perhaps we 



and generally conspicuous appearance rather suggest 

 that once it was generally a frequenter of marshy 

 tracts or areas not given over to cultivation, and 

 indeed we must remember that it is onl\- of com- 

 paratively recent \'ears that cultivation has been 

 general in the way that it is now carried on. At 

 least the case is interestintr. 



ANNOUNCEMENT.S. 



THK PHYSICAL SCJCIETV OF LCJNDON.— We are 

 informed that owing to an alteration in the publications, 

 papers read before the Physical Society of London in future 

 will appear in general only in the Proceedings of the 

 Society and not in the Philosophical Magazine. The 

 Proceedings and other publications are now obtainable 

 by the public from the publishers to the Society, The 

 Electrician Printing and Publishing Company, Ltd.. 1, 2 and 

 3, Salisbury Court, Fleet Street, London, E.C. 



THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION.— For the meeting of the 

 British Association for the .Advancement of Science, which is 

 to tal<e place this year at Portsmouth, on August 30th, and 



following days, under the presidency of Professor Sir William 

 Ramsay, K.C.B., F.R.S., the following presidents have been 

 appointed to the various sections : Mathematical and Physical 

 Science, Professor H. H. Turner. D.Sc, F.R.S. ; Chemistry, 

 Professor J. Walker, D.Sc, F.R.S. ; Geology, A. Harker, 

 M.A., F.R.S. ; .Zoology, Professor D'Arcy W. Thompson, C.B. ; 

 Geography, Col. C. F. Close, R.E., C.M.G.; Economic Science 

 and Statistics. Hon. W. Pember Reeves ; Engineering, Professor 

 J. H. Biles, LL.D. : Anthropology, Dr. W. H. R. Rivers, 

 F.R.S.; Physiology. Professor J. S. Macdonald ; Botany, 

 Professor F. E. Weiss, D.Sc, with W. Bateson. F.R.S., as 

 chairman of the sub-section of Agriculture ; Educational 

 Science, Right Rev. J. E. C. Welldon, D.D. 



