54 



KNOWLEDGE. 



[Maech 1, 1899. 



being in our favour, to approach within forty yards of the 

 birds. 



Our encampment was in the direct line of the evening 

 flight of many birds from one stretch of water to another. 

 Every evening, just at sunset, we sallied forth to sit and 

 wait, in danger of being eaten alive by mosquitoes, for the 

 flight. For ten minutes or so no bird was to be seen or 

 heard. Then in the far distance a great flock of birds 

 appeared sOhouetted against the glow of the setting sun. 

 For a quarter of an hour these shadows flew up and down, 

 tailing out and bunching up, performing all sorts of 



FiQ. 3. — The Dead Flamingo. 



evolutions, and forming all manner of shapes and patterns 

 like a flock of knot or dunlin in an English harbour. At 

 last they steadied down and flew towards us, looking larger 

 and larger until we were astonished to find that these 

 practised performers were flamingoes, which we knew to 

 be accomplished runners and walkers, but had hitherto 

 regarded as clumsy flyers. 



No better way could be devised for observing shy birds 

 than from behind the stalking horse, and many were the 

 hours we spent thus with our field-glasses to our eyes. 



We often approached to within a few yards of avocets 

 and watched their curious method of feeding. The bills of 

 these birds are flat like a piece of whalebone, and are 

 curved upwards. The birds stand in shallow water, and 

 instead of probing the mud as other waders, they sway 

 their heads to and fro, and with their upturned bills scoop 

 from the mud or water the insects and worms upon which 

 they feed. 



Many waders which are common on our English coasts 

 in autumn were here in thousands. Most of them had, no 

 doubt, wintered still further south, and were now but 

 breaking the journey to their breeding places — the moors 

 and tundras of the far north. Grey plover, with white 

 foreheads and black breasts — their beautiful summer dress 

 — were everywhere in small flocks and in big flocks, from 

 April 27th until we left on May l!)th. Wild as the grey 

 plover is in England, we found him wilder here, and, next 

 only to the flamingo, he proved the most difficult bird to 

 staik. 



The smaller waders we had no difficulty in approaching, 

 and we often guided our horses right into the midst of a 

 flock before the birds realised that dreaded man was 

 behind the horse. These flocks were composed of many 



* Fquatarola helvetica. 



species of birds. To describe one such flock, let me take 

 a page from my notebook written on the spot. 



A dunlin, ' so near me that I could have touched it with 

 my gun, was tugging vigorously at a monstrous worm 

 which refused to be "drawn," and by his brother's side 

 was another dunlin, looking on with interest and anxiety. 

 Just near them were a number of their miniature cousins 

 the little stints,* while a little further off were curlew 

 sandpipers,! with the rich red breasts of their summer 

 plumage, and to and fro, and in and out amongst them, 

 ran those active little birds the ringed plover? and the 

 Kentish plover./ We moved on slightly to examine the 

 rest of the birds, when with a sudden gasp a dunlin spied 

 us and the whole flock flew off. Just at that moment we 

 heard a swish of wings, and a peregrine*^ swept past us. 

 In another moment he had caught up our little friends, 

 and singling one out dashed straight at it. and seized it 

 in his powerful grip. The falcon appeared to take no 

 notice of us, but sailed round and settled upon the dry 

 mud half a mile away. While one of us went off to stalk, 

 the other waited and watched. It was a fine sight to see 

 the noble bird standing on his prey and tearing at it, but 

 presently he left his quarry and rose into the air, only to 

 fall back upon the mud dead. We gazed upon them — 

 slayer and slain — the one a perfect male peregrine, with 

 his barred breast, glorious blue-grey back, and the other a 

 poor little Kentish plover, already torn and headless. 



THE FLUCTUATIONS OF RAINFALL. 



By Alex. B. MaoDowall, m.a. 



BACON remarks, in his " History of the Winds," 

 " It has been observed by the diligence of some, 

 that the greater and more remarkable seasons of 

 the weather, as great heats, great snows, great 

 frosts, warm winters, and cold summers, generally 

 come round in a circuit of thirty-five years." Again, in 

 his essay, " Of Vicissitude of Things," " They say it is 

 observed in the Low Countries (I know not in what part) 

 that every five-and-thirty years the same kind and suit of 

 weathers come about again, as great frosts, great wet, 

 great droughts, warm winters, summers with little heat, 

 and the like ; and they call it the Prime." 



These passages have a special interest in relation to the 

 remarkable work of Briickner, published some eight years 

 ago. From a wide survey of weather changes, it is 

 known, he concludes, that since 1700 at least, most of the 

 land surface of the earth has been subject to a recurrence 

 of cold and wet periods, alternating with warm and dry 

 ones, and that the (varying) interval from the middle of 

 one period to that of the next of the same kind is, on an 

 average, about thirty-five years. Speaking generally, the 

 wet periods in this century are 1806-25, 1841-55, and 

 1871-85, and the intervening ones have been dry. (The 

 cold and warm periods tend to precede the wet and dry a 

 little.) Putting the case otherwise, the years 1815, 1850, 

 1880, are given as approximately centres of cold and wet 

 periods, and 1830 and 18G0 of warm and dry ones. There 

 are a few exceptions to the rule. For example, in Ireland, 

 and islands in the North Atlantic, the variation is of an 

 opposite character. Briickner considers that compensation 

 occurs, not on land, but on the sea. 



In Knowledge last year (June number) were given 

 some weather-curves of a special type ; they were obtained 



• Tringa alpina. t Tringa minuta. X Tringa suharquarta. 



§ Aegialitis hiaticula. \\ Aegialitis cantiana. 



^ Falco peregrinus. 



