438 



NA TURE 



{March 12, 1885 



paring boys for their studies, it may be hoped that a more 

 general union may be arrived at with regard to this 

 standard. 



Free libraries are still progressing, and so interesting 

 are the statistics of these " universities of the people " in 

 the United States, that Gen. Eaton promises a special 

 publication on the subject, reprinting such parts of the 

 great Report of 1877 as have permanent value. Several 

 magnificent bequests and donations of books to large 

 libraries show how naturally large private collections will 

 gravitate to the free public library, where the locality is 

 happily provided with one. One such, that of Dr. 

 Toner's, containing 27,000 books and 12,000 pamphlets, 

 was thus bequeathed to the Library of Congress. This 

 latter institution, at the end of 1882, already contained 

 480,076 volumes and 160,000 pamphlets, and the forth- 

 coming plan of a new building to keep in utilising order 

 this rapidly growing mass is intended to embody the best 

 appliances, arrangements, and ideas about library con- 

 struction which such enormous accumulations render 

 indispensable. An excellent precaution also against 

 knowledge being locked up in over-large supplies of 

 literature is taken at Chicago, where Dr. Poole, the great 

 cataloguist, receives schools or teachers on a Saturday, 

 surrounded by all the books of the library bearing upon 

 some matter. By showing how interesting that subject 

 is as a department of human thought and industry, and 

 how much the contents of the library may help the 

 student to a knowledge of such a subject, he has suc- 

 ceeded in producing a profound beneficial effect upon the 

 upper grades of the school system. W. Odell 



BIRDS BREEDING IN ANTS' NESTS 



THE following communication to Mr. Grant Duff, 

 Governor of Madras, has been forwarded to us for 

 publication by Sir John Lubbock: — 



To Major Awdry, Private Secretary to His Excellency 

 the Governor of Madras 



001Y,Jaii!/a?y 18, 18S5 



Sir, — I beg to acknowledge your letter of yesterday's 

 date. 



The Southern Chestnut Woodpecker {Micropternm 

 gularis), always, as far as I have observed, uses an ants' 

 nest to nest in, and Mr. Gammie, the Superintendent of 

 the Government Cinchona Estates at Mongphoo, near 

 Darjeeling, has noticed the same thing with regard to the 

 allied northern species, Micropternus phaloceps, and the 

 peculiarity probably extends also to the allied species 

 found in Burmah, Siam, i\:c. 



Mr. Gammie thinks that when an ants' nest has been 

 taken possession of by the bird that the ants desert the 

 nest. This is a point on which I cannot speak with cer- 

 tainty. Mr. Gammie has taken nests of the northern 

 species in which, although the bird had laid, the ants 

 remained, and he has taken other nests where not a 

 single ant remained ; but there is nothing to show that 

 these nests were not deserted before the bird took pos- 

 session. I myself have taken nests of the southern form, 

 in which, though the eggs were partially incubated, the 

 ants remained, showing thatsome considerable time must 

 have elapsed since the bird took possession. This is ;i 

 point that I hope to be able to elucidate within the nexi 

 few months, when the birds will be breeding. 



When Microptemus is breeding the feathers of the 

 head, tail, and primaries of the wings get covered with a 

 viscid matter, having a strong resinous smell, and this 

 substance is usually rather thickly studded with dead 

 ants (vide "Stray Feathers," vol. vi. p. 145). 



Two species of kingfishers also to my knowledge nidi- 

 ficate in ants' nests — viz. Halcyon occipitalis, confined to 

 the Nicobar Islands, and H. ckloris, which ranges from 

 India as far south as Sumatra. 



At Mergui, in South Tenasserim, I found a nest of H. 

 chloris in a hornets' nest, and although I saw the birds 

 repeatedly enter the hole they had made in the hornets' 

 nest the hornets did not seem to mind it, but they resented 

 in a very decided manner my attempt to interfere with 

 the nest. 



I am sorry I cannot give His Excellency more certain 

 information as regards the desertion or otherwise of the 

 ants from their nest after the birds have taken possession 

 of it, but I hope to be able to finally settle the question 

 shortly. 



I am, Sir, yours obediently, 



(Signed) Wm. Davison 



A NEW AMERICAN CLOCK 



THE accompanying figure from La Nature illustrates 

 a new American clock of ingenious construction. It 

 is distinguished from all other clocks by the singular and 

 original form of its pendulum : or rather of the system 

 which serves to maintain a synchronism more or less 

 perfect between the passage of time and the indications 

 on the dial. The arrangement of this clock is based on 



the principle of torsion. It has to be wound up daily, and 

 the phase of the pendulum— that is to say, the time which 

 elapses between two identical positions of the regulating 

 system— is six seconds. The general mechanism does not 

 differ from that of ordinary clocks ; we find the main 

 spring and other usual parts, and a train of wheels 

 giving rotation to a vertical axis which is seen over the 

 case and the rate of motion of which is to be regulated. 



