J \Nl\UV. 1")K 



KNowiJ-.nr.i:. 



39 



houfver. been tinned down on several shootin.!,'s. and in 

 Banffshire, in 190<l. it was reported to be so nmcli at home as 

 to breed pretty freely with the Red Cirousc. the offspring 

 tiirnint; out shapely, vigorous and healthy. 



COMMON BIRDS NKSTING .AT H 1 (i H 

 .ALTITUDES. —In the British Isles the nests of a few 

 species of birds are found only at a considerable elevation 

 above sea level, but some of our common birds associated 

 with the lowlands are occasionally found makinj; their homes 

 upon the hills. Last summer (1911) Mr. Seton P. Gordon saw. 

 on 2.Sth July, a Swallow's nest with one fresh egg at an old 

 shooting lodge in the vicinity of a Highland loch at an altitude 

 of about one thousand six hundred feet, and he remarked that 

 it closely resembled that of a Grey Wagtail which had nested 

 on the same beam {Country Life — 1 1th .August, 1911, p. 274). 

 The Swallow's near neighbour, the House-Martin, was breed- 

 ing in numbers at the beginning of .August under the eaves at 

 Swarlhgill. the highest-up house in Wharfedale l.ibout one 

 thousand three hundred feet). Further north, and at the same 

 elevation lone thousand three hundred feet), on the Lui 

 Water. .Mar Forest, .Aberdeenshire, there used to be (1902 and 

 190J) a nesting colony of about thirty pairs of the delicate 

 little Sand-Martin and the spot may be still frequented. On 

 the great Deeside Hill, Lochnagar. on 7th July. 1903, three 

 pairs of Swifts were found to be haunting the highest summit 

 ithree thousand seven hundred and eighty-six feet). They 

 kept going in and out of a crevice which could not be got at. 

 but it was well seen in the brilliant sunshine of a very fine 

 da\- and the birds were kept under obser\Mtion for about an 

 hour. Kncjuiries failed to ascertain if there was positive 

 proof that they were nesting, and an opportunity of re-visiting 

 the place has not yet fallen to our lot. 



RIXOVF.RV OF M.ARKED BIRDS.— Some further 

 returns are given in the Deceinber number of British 

 Birds (\', pages 1S6-18S). the most noteworthy being: — 



Linnet (Linota cannabina) — marked at Hampton-in-.Arden, 

 Warwickshire, 25th May. 1911; recovered near Bor- 

 deaux. France. 25th October, 1911. Another marked 

 near Reading. Berks. 6th June, 1911; recovered at 

 Sabres, Landes, France. 25th October, 1911. 



Starling (Stiirnns vulgaris) — marked at V'iborg, Denmark, 

 7th October, 1911 ; recovered near Shropham, Norfolk, 

 12th November, 1911. 



Cormorant iPlialacrocorax carbo) — marked at Saltee 

 Island. County Wexford, 26th June. 1910; recovered 

 at .Audierne. Finistere. France. 16th November. 1911. 



Common Tern iStcrna finviatilis) — marked at the Summer 

 Isles. Ross-shire. 5th August, 1911; recovered near 

 Oporto, Portugal, at the beginning of October. 1911. 

 .Another marked at Loch Thom. Renfrewshire, 22nd 

 July. 1911; recovered near Aveiro, Portugal. 11th 

 October, 1911. 



Black-headed Gull (L^nis ridibiiitdiis) — marked in Schles- 

 wig. 25th June, 1911 ; recovered at Breydon. Norfolk, 

 27th October. 1911. 



COMMENSAL NESTING.— One of the photographs in 

 Mr. Chnton G. .Abbott's recently published book on "The 

 Home- Life of the Osprey" (1911) shows a large nest on a 

 tree-top in G.ardiner's Island, near New York. An Osprey 

 is sitting by the nest and a Purple Grackle about to 

 enter its home in the same nest, and also a Woodpecker's 

 hole in the branch of the tree directly below. Mr. Abbott 

 explains that smaller birds often use the sides of the Osprey's 

 huge abode to nest in. and that Purple Grackles especially, 

 being gregarious, may be found to the number of six or seven 

 pairs in one nest-structure. They live in perfect harmony 

 with their host. House-Sparrows have been seen by Mr. 

 .Abbott utilizing Ospreys' nests and House- Wrens and even 

 Night- Herons have been recognized elsewhere as its tenants. 

 In nests on the ground Meadow-Mice construct their run-ways 

 in the mounds. Such nesting 'partnerships are unusual 

 amongst birds, but the Ospreys and their tenants undoubtedly 

 find some mutual advantage in this close association. 



THE FLIGHT OF BIRDS AS SEEN FROM A 

 MOTCJK CAR. — .A correspondent writes: — " Running along 

 these country roads an observant eye will see a good deal of 

 life. Birds, startled by the sudden appearance and strange 

 sound, fly out from the hedgerows, as often as not crossing the 

 road immediately in front, uttering their notes of alarm, whilst 

 some will fly in front or alongside for some distance before 

 they swerve aside to alight in a convenient field. The apparent 

 ease with which many of the smaller birds will keep up with, 

 and even gain upon, a car which is travelling at the rate of 

 twenty-five and more miles an hour, provides a startling illus- 

 tration of their different powers of flight. Twenty to twenty -five 

 miles an hour seems to be about the ordinary speed in flight 

 of most of the birds inhabiting the hedgerows. Other birds, 

 such as the swallow, will, in their ordinary flight, pass a car 

 when it is travelling at as high a speed as forty miles an 

 hour." 



THE BODY TI:MPI:RATIRE of BIRDS. — At a 

 meeting of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, on 20th 

 November last, a conununication on " Observations on the 

 body temperature of some di\'ing and swimming birds " was 

 made by Professor Sutherland Simpson, M.D., D.Sc. He 

 said that observations had been made on the body temperature 

 of a large number of diving and swimming birds of eighteen 

 different species in the Orkney Islands and in the Firth of 

 Forth, in Scotland, and on and around Cayuga Lake, New 

 York, U.S..A.. immediately after they were killed by shooting. 

 In all the species examined where the sex was determined it 

 was found that the temperature of the male was slightly below 

 that of the female. Of the orders examined the highest 

 temperatures were found in the Longipennes, and the 

 lowest in the Tubinares. When arranged according to 

 body temperatures the series did not run parallel with the 

 zoological series. 



PHOTOCiR.AI'HV. 



By Edg.\R Seniok. 



PRINTING WITH SALTS OF IRON. URANIUM. 

 .AND SO ON. — Having had occasion lately to jnake a number 

 of prints in which the salts of iron, chromium and uranium 

 were the sensitive agents, it was thought, from the beauty of 

 the results obtainable, together with the simplicity of the pro- 

 cess, that the subject might form matter interesting to 

 photographic students, and those re<iuiring a method for 

 readily obtaining a record of general forms of objects such as 

 seaweeds, fern or other leaves, lace, and so on. The general 

 principle upon which the formation of the images is based is 

 that of reduction, light reducing the ferric and uranic salts to 

 ferrous and uranous, and these, when treated with certain 

 re-agents, producing suitably coloured deposits. For nearly 

 the whole of our knowledge concerning the action of light upon 

 iron salts we are indebted to Sir John Herschel, whose 

 experiments date back nearly seventy years. The iron salt 

 usually employed as giving the most certain results is that 

 known as the double citrate of iron and ammonium citrate, 

 which is obtainable in two varieties in the form of scales, one 

 of which is brown, the other green, in colour. We much 

 prefer the green scale preparation, as it is more sensitive, and 

 gives better results generally. Whichever preparation is used, 

 a solution is made containing about forty grains dissolved in 

 one ounce of distilled water ; or, in the case of the green scale 

 preparation, enough of the salt may be taken to make quite a 

 dark green-coloured solution, no weighing being necessary. 



P.aper. " ordinary writing paper answers perfectly," is coated 

 with either of the above by means of a piece of sponge or 

 cotton wool used for filtering purposes, spreading the solution 

 evenly over the surface with a circular motion. The coating 

 operation should be performed by artificial light or in a dimly 

 lighted corner of a room. The paper may be dried in front of 

 a fire, taking care not to scorch the surface, and is then ready 

 for exposure, or it may be kept between the leaves of a book 

 for some short time until required for use. Our own experi- 

 ence however is, that freshly prepared paper answers best. 



