February 1, 1899.] 



KNOWLEDGE 



41 



world-stuff is far from being complete. When we come to 

 the two nest divisions the evidence is conflicting ; perhaps 

 because the research deals only with the brightest stars, 

 for the prevalence of small hydrogen stars in the Galaxy is 

 very marked. On the other hand, Divisions IV. and V.,that 

 is to say, stars with spectra resembling those of our sun and 

 a. Herculis, appear very equally distributed. With regard 

 to the latter, the small number of spectra concerned — only 

 nineteen — must make us chary of putting too great weight 

 upon the evidence their distribution affords. So far as it 

 goes it would seem to show that the orange stars are not, 

 as Lockyer has supposed, in an early stage of their 

 development but in a late. 



A most important result of Mr. McClean's research has 

 been the identification of a large number of hitherto un- 

 known lines in the spectra of /3 Crucis and other of the 

 helium stars with the lines of oxygen. This identification 

 leads him to divide the helium stars into two subdivisions 

 — the earlier those in which the oxygen lines are marked, 

 the later in which both the helium and the oxygen lines 

 are dying out. This result, the establishment for the first 

 time of the oxygen spectrum as a leading feature in celestial 

 bodies, is of the very utmost importance, and would of 

 itself render Jlr. McClean's research remarkable. It is 

 very significant, too, that it is in the youngest stellar 

 spectra, and in those alone, that we find the evidence of 

 this element the most abundant of all with which we are 

 acquainted on our own planet. 



There are several other points of interest in these two 

 memoirs, and in the smaller papers which Mr. McClean 

 has published in connection with the same work. First 

 is the identification of the typical Wolf- Ray et star y Argus 

 as a helium star. This spectrum is one of special interest, 

 for not only are the ordinary hydrogen absorption lines 

 seen, but also the members of the series first discovered 

 in t Puppis. The spectrum also abounds in bright bands. 

 8 and \h Centauri are also classed as helium stars, although 

 showing the hydrogen lines bright. 



One most important feature of these two memoirs must 

 not be overlooked. A benefit of the first order has been 

 conferred upon students by the reproduction of the whole 

 of the two hundred and seventy-six spectra in a series of 

 excellent plates, Mr. McClean thus placing his readers in 

 as nearly as possible the same position as himself with 

 regard to them. 



The entire research is a noteworthy example of the 

 special class of work which is the distinguishing glory of 

 English astronomy. On the Continent, astronomical 

 progress has been usuaUy effected at the great State 

 observatories. The special characteristic of astronomical 

 development in the United States has been the founding 

 and endowment of well-equipped observatories by wealthy 

 Americans, who have themselves taken no personal share 

 in the work for which they provided the means. In 

 England, the distinguishing national characteristic has 

 been the enormous debt which astronomy has owed to 

 amateur observers. From the days of Harriot and 

 Horrocks, in the first dawn of telescopic astronomy ; 

 from the elder Herschel, the very father of the science 

 in its wider, modern sense, to the days just passed of 

 Carrington, Dawes, De La Eue, and Lassell, to Huggins, 

 Denning, and McClean, who are still with us, the succes- 

 sion of noble names has been without a break. These 

 amateurs, true lovers of their science, have, if wealthy, 

 spent freely for its furtherance ; but, whether rich or poor, 

 have delighted to follow it up by their own exertions, their 

 own thought and ingenuity, their own patient and 

 laborious work. 



E. Walter Madndee, f.r.a.s. 



Conducted by Habry F. Witherby, f.z.s., m.b.o.u. 



Radde's Bush Warbler (Lusciniola schicarzi, Radde) im 

 Lincoln SHIRE. — On October 1st last I was fortunate enough 

 to shoot an example of this species at North Cotes from a 

 thick hedge about a quarter of a mile inland from the sea- 

 bank. It was a most difiicult bird to draw from its covert, 

 and but for its loud and remarkable note might have been 

 easily overlooked. The weather was fine and hot, with 

 light south-west wind, but on the previous day there was a 

 fresh easterly breeze. — G. H. Caton Haioh. Grainsby Hall, 

 Great Grimsby, Lincolnshire. 



[Mr. Caton Haigh is to be sincerely congratulated on 

 the capture which he describes above. L. schwani appears 

 to spend the summer in South-eastern Siberia, coming as 

 far west as Tomsk. The bird has not before been recorded 

 within the European area. That a bird whose usual 

 habitat is in Asia should have been captured for the first time 

 in Europe as far west as England is very remarkable, but 

 it is questionable if any other observer is so indefatigable 

 and systematic in searching for strange warblers as Mr. 

 Haigh.— H. F. W.] 



Little Bustard in Breeding Plumage. — Early in May, 

 1898, a beautiful male Little Bustard, in full breeding 

 plumage, was killed at Kessingband, near Lowestoft, 

 Suffolk. A considerable number of these birds have been 

 met with in Norfolk and Suffolk, but hitherto always in 

 the colder months of the year, this being the first instance 

 of its occurrence in summer plumage with which I am 

 acquainted in the eastern counties. — Thos. Southwell, 

 Norwich. 



Cuckoo in December. — On December -ith last, a Cuckoo 

 rose out of a rhododendron bush here, and flew by me with 

 a following of small bkds, near enough for me to observe 

 all its markings. On the 17th I was shooting at Fulford, 

 about four miles off, and one of the beaters told me he had 

 seen a Cuckoo there that morning, and evidently the same 

 bird. Though I was perfectly certain the bird I saw in 

 the groimds here was a Cuckoo, I was glad to have my 

 evidence corroborated. This bird was in mature plumage. 

 — E. C. A. Byrom, Culver, Exeter, .lanuary 8th, 1899. 



Cuckoos in Winter in Devoxshike. — With reference to 

 reports which have reached me of Cuckoos having been 

 seen in this county during the present winter, it is 

 interesting to note that Polwhele records that cuckoos 

 were heard in January, 1776, near Mount Edgcumbe, in 

 several parts of the South Hams of Devon, the season 

 being extremely mild. The winter of 1775-6 can scarcely 

 have surpassed that of 1898-9 for mildness. The mean 

 maximum temperature of November, 1898, at Exeter, was 

 sixty-one degrees in the open, and fifty-two degrees in the 

 shade, and the minimum was forty degrees. AH through 

 December, also, the readings of the thermometer were 

 remarkably high, reaching in the open seventy degrees on 

 the 4th, and being above fifty-five degrees on twenty-nine 

 days, whilst the minimum readings were never below 

 thirty-one degrees until the night of the 31st, when twenty- 

 seven degrees was reached, though the previous day was 

 very mild. Flies were active indoors and out during the 

 month. Primroses were in bloom in many parts of the 

 county, ripe raspberries for sale, and wild strawberries 

 with ripe fruit in the hedges ; many summer annuals in 

 flower in the garden, broad-leaved hoUy in flower towards 

 the end of the month, and blackthorn early in January. — 

 W. S. M. D'Ubban, Newport House, near Exeter, January 

 18th, 1899. 



