234 



KNOWLEDGE 



[OCTOBEB 1, 1898. 



BRITISH 



<r, 



~N 



ORNITHOLOGICAL 



NOTES 



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



Change of Nesting Sites ok Common Tern and Ringed 

 Plover. — Both the Common Tern and Ringed Plover breed 

 commonly in the sands and bents to the north of Peterhead. 

 The former bird is ever shifting its breeding grounds, 

 perhaps through annoyance from fisher boys, who are 

 persistent harriers of their nests. In former years I have 

 always come across small breeding colonies within five 

 miles of the town, either immediately above high water 

 mark or on the bents. This year I found none, but inland 

 I came across two colonies, one in the middle of a field of 

 rye grass, and the other in the middle of a turnip field, 

 where they certainly had more chance of raising their 

 young. Is this reasoning on their part, or what '? The 

 same change of breeding grounds I observed on the part 

 of the Ringed Plover. There were certain furrowed spots 

 on the sand or back a little on the bents where you could 

 always find their eggs, and where their piping was incessant, 

 but this year there were hardly a pair in these parts. Nor 

 had they mingled with the Terns in the fields, but they 

 were piping commonly all along where the bent adjoins 

 the cultivated land. Had two or three pairs been there it 

 had not been noticeable, but they seemed all to be there. I 

 wonder if they were going near the town so as to get their 

 protection when Crows were hovering about? — William 

 Socle, Peterhead. 



Migrating Wagtails at Peterhead. — In years past, during 

 September, I used to notice Pied Wagtails numerously, some 

 nights in hundreds, near Fettes College in Edinburgh. 

 They are every year very noticeable birds all over this 

 region during the latter three weeks of August. In the 

 spring they are very numerous as they push northwards, 

 but nothing to what they are in August. They are just 

 now in family parties, though later you would think that 

 three or foui- families combine. They are in no hurry to 

 travel southwards, perhaps because they have abundance of 

 flies here during the herring season. There is always a 

 fair sprinkling of the Grey Wagtail, but they are a little 

 later in migrating. — William Scole, Peterhead. 



Squirrels and Birds. — Squirrels are becoming very 

 common in the woods and plantations of Ireland, and 

 certainly form a charming addition to our somewhat 

 slender list of wild fauna. The price which we must pay 

 for the pleasure of watching them is, however, scarcely 

 understood. Not only do they rob our gardens and 

 orchards, but they are proving formidable adversaries to 

 the increase of bird life. Nests are robbed without scruple, 

 eggs and young devoured ; and a squirrel was lately seen 

 leaping triumphantly on the garden wall with a full-fiedged 

 Robin in his mouth. A neighbour of ours has proclaimed 

 a war of extermination against the marauders, which, not 

 content with stealing the food prepared for his young 

 Pheasants, proceeded to eat the precious chicks tbamielvea. 



It seems that we cannot allow Squirrels to increase at 

 their own sweet will without making sacrifice for their 

 sakes of the birds which are equally valued. — C. Maud 

 Battersby, Cromlyn, Rathowen, Ireland. 



Moorhen Chasini: Stoat. — -On August 16th I was in a 

 canoe on the River Derwent, floating down stream and 

 hardly making a sound, when I saw on the bank a Moor- 

 hen hunting a stoat. The stoat was galloping along, and 

 the Moorhen kept making short swift runs at it, but each 

 time striking distance was reached the bird stopped short. 

 I kept the canoe still and watched till pursued and pursuer 

 disappeared among some bushes. The Moorhen may have 

 had young ones — a second brood — and the stoat have tried 

 to rob her nest. The Moorhen uttered an alarm note 

 incessantly, and the stoat seemed to me to utter every now 

 and then a low short squeal, whether in anger or terror I 

 cannot say. — Basil W. Martin, Darley Abbey, Derby. 



All contributions to tlie column, either in the way of notes 

 or photographs, should he forwarded to Harry F. Witherby, 

 at 1, Eliot Place, Blackheath, Kent, 



SUNSPOTS AND LIFE. 



By Alex. B. MacDowall, m.a. 



IS there any connection between the sunspot cycle and 

 physical phenomena around us '? We may reply 

 with a confident affirmative, for the proof that 

 magnetic variations are related to that cycle is clear 

 and cogent. The same may be said about frequency 

 of auroras. 



There can be little doubt that the electrical condition of 

 our globe with its atmosphere touches life at many points. 

 (A familiar example is the susceptibility of some people 

 to the influence of an approaching thunderstorm.) The 

 subject, however, is largely a terra incognita at present. 



Does the sun give out more heat when spotted, or when 

 (comparatively) spotless ? And does our atmosphere 

 manifest such difference, if it exists? Have we more severe 

 winters, hotter summers, etc., during one phase of the 

 sunspot cycle than during the opposite phase ? and, if so, 

 what is the nature of the relation ? Such questions are 

 still (in the opinion of many) s«6 Judice. 



There is reason to believe, I think, that we have more 

 winter cold about the time when there are few spots than 

 when there are many. Some months ago I gave, in these 

 pages,* two curves in illustration of this view ; one, of 

 frost days at Greenwich in the first quarter of the year, 

 the other, of days of northerly wind in the winter half of 

 the year. It would seem that the sun is hottest when 

 spotted. The cold of winter is mitigated. Some say that 

 the spotted sun gives us hot summers as well as mild 

 winters. 



Now we know how a great deal of cold in the late winter 

 and early spring affects the life of plants, retarding their 

 growth, and the life of migratory animals, delaying their 

 return. If, then, this cold varies periodically in a cycle of 

 about eleven years, should there not be a con-esponding 

 variation in the data of phenology ? 



This branch of science, jdwiiohniy, has not yet come 

 within the ken of " the man in the street." I hardly need 

 say here, however, that the practical phenologist notes, year 

 by year, the dates at which given plants come into leaf or 

 flower (or other phase), the dates at which certain animals 

 are first seen. 



Do we, then, find that the variations in those dates 

 show any correspondence with the variations of temperature 

 and of the sun-spots in a period of eleven years ? To this 



Knowledue, October, 1897. " Coming Cold.' 



