Oct. t9, 1871] 

NATURE 
489 

brighter and closer together where the pillars had formerly 
stood, and rapidly ascending. 
When I first looked, some of them had already reached 
a height of nearly 4’ (100,000 miles), and while I watched 
them they rose with a motion almost perceptible to 
the eye, untilin ten minutes (1.5) the uppermost were 
more than 200,000 miles above the solar surface. This 
was ascertained by careful measurement ; the mean of 
three closely accordant determinations gave 7’ 49” as the 
extreme altitude attained, and I am particular in the state- 
ment because, so far as I know, chromospheric matter 
(red hydrogen in this case) has never before been observed 
at an altitude exceeding 5’. The velocity of ascent also, 
166 miles per second, is considerably greater than any- 
thing hitherto recorded. 
As the filaments rose they gradually faded away like a 
dissolving cloud, and at 1.15 only a few filmy wisps, with 
some brighter streamers low down near the chromosphere, 
remained to mark the place. 
But in the meanwhile the little “ thunder head,” before 
alluded to, had grown and developed wonderfully into a 
mass of rolling and ever-changing flame, to speak accord- 
ing to appearances. First it was crowded down, as it 
were, along the solar surface ; later it rose almost pyra- 
midally 50,000 miles in height; then its summit was 
drawn out into long filaments and threads which were 
most curiously rolled backwards and downwards, like the 
volutes of an Ionic capital: and finally it faded away, 
and by 2.30 had vanished like the other. 
The whole phenomenon suggested most forcibly the 
idea of an exf/osion under the great prominence, acting 
mainly upwards, but also in all directions outwards, and 
then after an interval followed by a corresponding inrush : 
and it seems far from impossible that the mysterious 
coronal streamers, if they turn out to be truly solar, as 
now seems likely, may find their origin and explanation in 
such events. 
The same afternoon a portion of the chromosphere on 
the opposite (western) limb of the sun was for several 
hours in a state of unusual brilliancy and excitement, and 
showed in the spectrum more than 120 bright lines whose 
position was determined and catalogued—all that I had 
ever seen before, and some fifteen or twenty besides. 
Whether the fine aurora borealis which succeeded 
in the evening was really the earth’s response to this mag- 
nificent outburst of the sun is perhaps uncertain, but the 
coincidence is at least suggestive, and may easily become 
something more, if, as I somewhat confidently expect to 
learn, the Greenwich magnetic record indicates a disturb- 
ance precisely simultaneous with the solar explosion, 
C, A, YOUNG 
Dartmouth College, September 1871 

THE KEA—PROGRESS OF DEVELOPMENT 
A NOTICE of the development of a striking change 
in the habits of a bird may be considered by 
naturalists interesting enough to justify a brief record in 
your journal. The Kea (WVestor nofabilis) may be seen 
and heard in certain localities amidst the wild scenery of 
the Southern Alps in the middle island of New Zealand, 
for it is not so rare as has been described. This fine bird 
belongs to one of our indigenous genera, an examination 
of its structure proves that it shares with the Kaéaa claim 
to a position amongst the 777chog/ossine or Brush-tongued 
Parrots ; the under side of its thick tongue near the tip is 
fringed with papillz, enabling it to collect the sweets of its 
favourite blossoms. Through how many years has this 
species been content to range over shrub-covered heights 
and rock-bound gullies, gathering its subsistence from the 
nectar of hardy flowers, from the drupes and berries of 
the dwarfed shrubs that contend with a rigorous climate, 
and press upwards almost to the snow line of our Alpine 
giants? To these food-resources may be added insects 
L— 


found in the crevices of rocks, beneath the bark of trees 
and its aliment not wholly vegetarian, yet such as called 
forth no display of boldness in order to procure a sufficient 
supply. This peaceful demeanour was observed under the 
ascendency of Moaic conservatism. The European has 
been the means of corrupting the simplicity of its ancient 
habits ; the meat-gallows of the back-country squatters 
attracted the attention of our mountain-parrots in the 
winter season, To them they became points of interest in 
their wanderings, and furnished many a hearty meal torn 
from the dangling carcass as it swung in the frosty air ; 
neither were the drying sheepskins, stretched on the rails 
of the stockyard, neglected. The Paneka has been destined 
to supply the enterprising Kea with a dainty only equalled 
perhaps by that which the epicurean African cuts warm 
from his bovine victim—our educated bird now tears his 
food from the back of the living sheep. From a local 
paper one learns that, for the last three years the sheep 
belonging to a settler “in the Wanaka district, (Otago) 
appeared afflicted with what was thought to be a new kind 
of disease ; neighbours and shepherds were equally at a 
loss to account for it, having never seen anything of the 
kind before. The first appearance of this supposed 
disease is a patch of raw flesh on the loin of the sheep, 
about the size of a man’s hand; from this matter con- 
tinually runs down the side, taking the wool completely 
off the part it touches, and in many cases death is 
the result. At last a shepherd noticed one of the 
mountain parrots sticking to a sheep and pecking at 
a sore, and that the animal seemed unable to get rid of its 
tormentor. The runholder gave directions to his shep- 
herds to keep watch on the parrots when mustering on 
the high ground ; the result has been that during the pre- 
sent season when mustering high upon the ranges near 
the snow line, they saw several of the birds surrounding a 
sheep which was freshly bleeding from a small wound in 
the loin ; on other sheep were noticed places where the Kea 
had begun to attack them, small pieces of wool having 
been picked out.” 
From the recent settlement of the country, it would be 
quite possible to date each stepin the development of the 
destructiveness of the Kea, the gradual yet rapid change 
from the mild gentleness of a honey-eater, luxuriating 
amidst fragrant blossoms when the season was lapped in 
sunshine, or picking the berried fruits in the more shel- 
tered gullies when winter had sternly crushed and hidden 
the vegetation of its summer haunts. Led, perhaps, to 
relish animal food from its partly insectivorous habits, its 
visits to the out-stations show something like the bold 
thievery of some of the Corvidae, whilst its attacks on 
sheep feeding on high ranges exhibit an amount of daring 
akin to the savage fierceness of a raptorial. Is the posi- 
tion of Nestor in our avifauna an anomalous one? A 
sucker of honey, devourer of fruit, destroyer of insects, 
render and tearer of flesh—will the difficulty be met by 
classing our mountain bird as omnivorous, or is it to be 
considered as only one other instance in which system 
puzzles and hampers the field naturalist? 
Tuos. H, Ports 

ON A NEW FORM OF CLOUD* 
ae accompanying figure on p. 490, represents a 
form of cloud which I have seen but twice in 
my life;* the first time about the commencement of 
June 1871, at five o’clock in the evening, at Washing- 
ton, U.S. ; the second at Beloit, Wisconsin, U.S., during 
the same year, and at the same hour. The state of 
the atmosphere presented similar meteorological con- 
ditions at both times. The appearances coincided with 
* See my new classification of clouds with ‘sixteen engravings in the 
Rural New Yorker, January 29, February 26, April 9, May 21, June 4 and 
tr. It will be reprinted in the Report of the Smithsonian Institution for 
1870, with an historical introduction, in print now for the next number of the 
Annales Hydrographiques of Paris, 
