814 Transactions of tee American Institute. 



twenty-two months back gave excellent negatives after ten seconds 

 of exposure. He uses, as a preserving liquid, water, 300 grams ; 

 ground coflPee, thirty grams; refined sugar, fifteen grams. His 

 developer consists of 



Grams. 



Distilled water 300 . 



Double sulphate of ammonia and iron 7.50 



Crystallized sugar 7 . 50 



Sulphate of copper 7 . 50 



Citric acid 15 . 



After the plates have been treated with the preserving solution, 

 they are dried by means of a tin box filled with very hot sand, or by 

 w^ater kept at the boiling point by means of a spirit lamp. The dried 

 j^lates are then placed in a box with chloride of calcium on the bot- 

 tom ; thus the collodonized surface takes the appearance of a very 

 brilliant varnish. 



The Chlamyder. 



M. Pouchet, director of the Rouen museum of natural history, in 

 his new work thus describes the habits of this curious bird : " The 

 speckled chlamyder is a bird resembling our partridge, but is distin- 

 guished by its deep color, relieved by clear spots, and by its neck, 

 which is adorned with a red collar. For the location of their nest 

 the couple choose an open spot, exposed to the sun. Their first care 

 is to make a path of round pebbles ; when they deem it sufiiciently 

 thick, they plant in it a little avenue of branches. They are seen, 

 for this purpose, to bring from the country slender shoots of trees, of 

 about the same size, wliich they thrust solidly by the thick end into 

 the interstices of the stones. The branches are disposed in two 

 parallel rows, converging a little in such a manner that they form a 

 miniature shrubbery. The plantation is a yard in length, and is 

 sufficiently wide to allow the two birds to walk along side of each 

 other in the interior. This grove being finished, they devote them- 

 selves to embellishing. Each starts out foraging in the fields, and 

 brings back all the sparkling objects it can pick up ; pearl shells, 

 birds' feathers, all that can charm the eye. These trophies are sus- 

 pended at the entrance to the grove, which soon begins to shine in 

 the sun like a palace of the Arabian Knights. In the places fre- 

 quented by the chlamyders, if a traveler loses his w^atch, his knife, 

 his seal, he does not spend his time looking for it on the ground; he 

 knows where to find it." 



