102 



KNOWLEDGE. 



[May, 1901. 



the side sheltered from the view of the starlings. 

 Gliding quickly down she suddenly slipped round to the 

 hole, and was beginning hastily to attend to repairs, 

 when one of the starlings with a harsh chattering noise 

 swooped viciously down upon her. In less time than 

 it takes to write the other nuthatch had come to the 

 rescue, only to find the attack reinforced by the second 

 starling. Taken at a disadvantage the nuthatches had 

 to beat a retreat, and the original starling — the prin- 

 cipal aggressor — stood screaming triumphantly at the 

 mouth of the hole. At that instant I fired, and it dropped 

 dead ; on examination I was interested to find that it 

 was a female. Once more the nuthatches gave a 

 striking example of their intrepidity, for the report of 

 the shot had hardly died away when they were both 

 back at the tree resuming operations with as much 

 apparent unconcern as if nothing at all had happened. I 

 mounted guard a little longer and presently shot another 

 starling on the tree, and by way of enforcing the lesson 

 hung its body up within a few feet of the hole. Know- 

 ing, however, the pertinacity of these birds, I did not 

 feel too sanguine even then that the mischief would 

 go no further. 



On the following day, when I went into the garden 

 before breakfast, the first thing that met my eye was a 

 nuthatch on the path in front of me where it was busily 

 picking up mud. This it did by carefully detaching 

 and rolling together a pellet about the size of a shilling, 

 with which it flew off straight to the hole. A single glance 

 at the latter more than confirmed my misgivings. The 

 starlings had not only removed every trace of the pro- 

 tecting clay but had actually ejected the egg from the 

 nest; the broken shell lay on the ground beneath. 

 Undeterred by the grim scarecrow before them a num- 

 ber of these mai-auders had gathered on the scene and 

 were apparently actively disputing the possession of so 

 desirable a building site. Desperate but determined as 

 ever, the nuthatches used most strenuous efforts to get 

 the gaping hole plastered up afresh. But against such 

 odds their present task was about as profitable as pour- 

 ing water into a sieve, and it was only too obvious 

 what the end must be. At this critical moment I hit 

 on a plan by which I was able to befriend them to 

 some purpose and make amends for the injury they had 

 previously suffered at my hands. It was simple but 

 effective. With the aid of a hammer and nails, I 

 fastened a bit of wood securely over the hole in such a 

 way as to leave it just large enough for the nuthatches ; 

 this was a rather unsightly makeshift, but a further 

 application of clay served both to conceal the deficiencies 

 in this respect and to restore the original character of 

 the threshold. While this work was going forward, 

 both nuthatches stood on the tree close beside me, and 

 no longer uttered the notes of alarm which had been 

 so incessant before. They lost no time in testing the 

 result when I descended the ladder, and it was a comical 

 sight to see the female's frantic contortions in squeezing 

 through the hole which was now inconveniently small. 

 This, however, was clearly a fault on the right side, 

 and the nuthatches were after all left in possession of 

 the field. The starlings were sensible enough to ac- 

 knowledge defeat, but before doing so one individual 

 (possibly the survivor of the original pair) planted him- 

 self at the mouth of the hole, ,and. thrusting in his head 

 as far as possible, railed at the dauntless little inmate 

 in unmistakable Billingsgate. Then he like the others 

 decided to raise the siege, and peace reigned once more. 

 A whole fortnight passed, and the nuthatches toiled 



indefatigably to make good their own defences behind 

 the improvised shelter which they evidently considered 

 insufficient ; certainly their previous experience might 

 well justify misgivings as to my present bona fides in 

 affoi-ding them protection. Eventually the traces of 

 their labours could be seen extending inwards to a 

 depth of more than six inches. During this period I 

 observed that they generally repaired to one particular 

 sjjot on the path in order to fetch their supply of mud, 

 coming and going with such singular directness that, 

 when one day I had inadvertently placed myself where 

 I interrupted the traflUc, I was startled to see the busy 

 little worker pass and repass within a foot of my head 

 with an absolute disregard of my presence. A well- 

 known writer has indeed suggested from close observa- 

 tion of a tame nuthatch that these birds are peculiarly 

 short sighted, and while the action I have mentioned 

 does not necessarily support such a theory (which in- 

 deed it is hard to accept without further evidence) it 

 has a certain interest as bearing on the question. 



It is satisfactory to be able to record that this pair of 

 plucky birds eventually brought off their brood tri- 

 umjihautly after all their pei-secutiou, and appear likely 

 to enjoy for a long time to come the security that they 

 have done so much to earn. 



STANDARD SILVER: ITS HISTORY, 

 PROPERTIES AND USES. -I. 



By Ernest A. Smith, assoc.r.s.m., f.c.s. 



At a very early period of the world's history silver was 

 used as a medium of exchange, and also for domestic 

 and public purposes. 



Gold and silver appear to have been iu general use 

 as money from the time of Abraham, while vessels and 

 ornaments of the precious metals were common in Egypt 

 in the times of Usertsen I. (about b.c. 2433) and of 

 Thothmes III. (about B.C. 1600), the contemporaries of 

 Joseph and Moses.* 



In ancient times the metals were used in their 

 native or unalloyed condition, but alloys of definite com- 

 position or standard alloys were adopted for the purpose 

 of coinage and also in the arts as early as B.C. 500, and 

 probably earlier. 



" The reasons for the use of alloys, in preference to 

 pure metals, ai'e somewhat complex. In early states 

 of civilisation coins axe generally made of more or less 

 pure metal, but a nation does not advance far in its 

 histoiT before the very important fact is recognised 

 that alloys are more durable than pure metals, and 

 that their substitution for pure gold or silver affords 

 a notable source of revenue. 



" In cases where the coinage is in any degree inter- 

 national, the adoption of a low standard by one nation 

 has to be followed by neighbouring nations, in order to 

 prevent loss, and to facilitate commerce by avoiding the 

 necessity for tedious calculations as to the rate at which 

 coins may circulate in the respective countries."! 



With regard to the actual standards of fineness or 

 amounts of precious metal present in any given alloy 

 which have from time to time been employed, it may 



* 'WilkiDsou's "Ancient Egypt," III., 22.'5. 



t Bobci'ts-Austen, Cautoi- Loctuivs on " AUovs IVir Coinage," 

 Society of Arts, 1884, p. 14. 



