I'M 



K.NOWLEDGIi;. 



May, 1912. 



JOIli. Mr. J. P. Sidd.'ill clciiioiistr.itoil the pn-si-iicc of what ho 

 calli'd |)s<Micli)poili.i in Cnscinoiliscii.'i licllozoiili's spcii, by 

 iiu'aiis of powerful illuMiiiiatioii and a black background. In 

 ills paper on the life-liislory of llie dialoiii which was sent to 

 him alive by Mr. Thomas Shepherd, of Hourncmouth, Mr. Siddall 

 described his obscnalions of the movements of the Coscino- 

 tiisciis by means of ihe filaments of protoplasm, which differ 

 from the pseudopmli.i of the Khiiiopodia in that no circulation 

 of the protoplasm can bo made out. It was the general opinion 

 of those present th.it Mr. Sidd.iU had made out a Rood case. 

 and he showed not only living specimens but others moimtcd 

 in a mixture of formalin in sea water. There are more than 

 forty of the pseudopodia, and the diatom is held up from the 

 surface on which it is resting by means of them as if, as 

 Mr. Siddall says, it was walking on stilts. 



CORRECTION. — In the note — An attractive "Common 

 object." pages 153-4 "Knowi.udge " for April, instead of 

 as at present, the last sentence should read : — The figure was 

 drawn from a specimen treated in this way : the pampltyses 

 and asci with contained spores A X 265 and the separate 

 spores B X 445. 



ORNITHOLOGY. 



By Hugh Boyd Watt, M.B.O.U. 



MARKED BIRDS RECOVERED.— The current number 

 (April) o( British Birds contains (pages 312-318) a number 

 of further returns, from which the following are taken, viz : — 



ago with a nmnber of sea-birds' eggs by the late Sir Greville 

 Smyth, but nothing is known of its previous history. Both 

 the eggs were knocked down to Mr. Rowland Ward. After- 

 wards a number of painted models of celebrated eggs, from 

 the collection of Mr. E. Bidwell, were sold, and fetched 

 prices varying from £2 5s. to £4 10s. 



THE DRESSER COLLECTHjNS.— The University of 

 Manchester has this winter had transferred to its Museum the 

 very fine and extensive collection of eggs of Balaearctic birds 

 made by Mr. H. E. Dresser, and also the library of books on 

 ornithology and oology. The same Museum received the 

 Dresser collection of birds more than twelve years ago, and is 

 thus thoroughly equipped with the most authentic material for 

 the study of European and eastern I'alaearctic birds. Pains- 

 taking research, continued over a long series of years, was 

 taken in making the collections and only carefully authenti- 

 cated specimens have been admitted, and most of them have 

 a full history. The great ICngllsh ornithologist who made the 

 collections will be commemorated by these, as, along with the 

 library, they are being kept together, and named the " Diesser 

 Collection." This will be restricted to Palaearctic ornithology 

 and oology, the field of Mr. Dresser's life-long and authorita- 

 tive work. 



EXTREMES OF SI^^E IN" BIRDS.— In The Amcricun 

 Naturalist for March, 1912, Dr. A. W. Henn writes on this 

 subject with reference to vertebrates generally. Of birds he 

 says that the smallest is a Humming Bird iCalyptc helenae) 

 from Cuba, total length two and a-quarter inches (fifty-seven 



The editor, remarking on the .Azores and Barbados records 

 of the last-named species, says that it is said to be a common 

 visitor to the Azores, and must come from Europe. He con- 

 jectures that, that being so, the Barbados bird probably 

 reached there by natural means and may have been tempted 

 far out of its normal course by following a ship. 



FIRST RECORD OF THE HOOPOE IN ENGLAND. 

 — Mr. W. H. Mullens has recently jjointcd out that although 

 the credit of including this bird ^L pupa cpops) in the British 

 list is generally attributed to Christopher .VIerrett (1606), it of 

 right belongs to an earlier writer. Thomas MuiTett, in his 

 " Healths Improvement," published in 1655, says that although 

 " Houpes were not thought . . . to be found in England, yet I 

 saw Mr. Serjeant Goodrons kill of them in Charingdon Park." 

 {British Birds for March, 1912. \'ohime V.. pages 276 and 

 270). 



SALE OF THE EGGS OF THE GREAT ALK.-On 

 Wednesday, April 17th, two eggs of the Great .Auk were sold 

 at Stevens's. Neither of them was a particularly good specimen, 

 and the prices realised were not. therefore, very high. There 

 is rather a romantic story attached to the first, as it is one of 

 the two which were bought by a boy at a sale in Kent in 1894 

 for 36s., and which within a month brought him in something 

 more than /['400. We learn from .Mr. Thomas Parkin's paper 

 on "The Great .•\uk." which is noticed on page 203, that this 

 egg was sold on April 24lh, 1894, to Mr. Henry Munt for 

 /^183 15s., and on June 20th. 1900, Mr. James Gardner bought 

 it for the late Sir Greville Smyth for £189. 'Ihis time it 

 changed hands for one hundred and fifty guineas. The other 

 egg, which fetched ten guineas less, was purchased many years 



millimetres), but that several other species of Hummers, such 

 as the Jamaican Melisiiga minima, which measures two and 

 nine-sixteenth inches (sixty-five niillimetresi are only slightly 

 larger. No mention is made by Dr. Henn of the biggest bird, 

 but this amongst living species is the 0.strich which, however, 

 is greatly exceeded by the extinct New /Zealand Moa ( DiiioniisK 

 The most massively built of all birds was probably the extinct 

 Patagonian Seriema orCariama iPhororliachos), with a skull 

 approaching that of a horse in size ; but in massiveness of 

 limb this species is exceeded by some of the great birds of the 

 genus Aepyoriiis from Madagascar, the remains of which are 

 conjectured to have given rise to the legend of the Roc. It 

 is not easy to say which is the largest Hying bird, as wing 

 expanse scarcely affords a true criterion, but the usual 

 claimants for this are the Giant .-Mbatross [Diomcdca cxtilans^ 

 and the Chilian and Californian Condors (The Field. 

 April 13th, 1912, page 744). Amongst living British birds the 

 smallest in size is the Gold-crested Wren iRegiiliis cristatiisK 

 about three and a-half inches in length, and the largest is the 

 Whooper or Wild Swan iCygiius miisicKsK measuring five 

 feet. Between this and the next biggest and better known 

 birds is a considerable diflerence. these being the Golden 

 Eagle, averaging thirty-three to thirty-five inches, the Gannct. 

 thirty-three inches, and the Connoraut, thirty-two inches in 

 length respectively. 



BIRDS .AND GENETICS.— In the course of lectures this 

 winter by Mr. W. Bateson at the Royal Institution, London, on 

 " Studies in Genetics." birds, along with other animals, were 

 cited to illustrate our ignorance of the factors which control 

 variations in animals. What (asked Mr. Bateson) was the 

 cause of the difference between the Black Crow and the 



