Jan. 21, 1 875 J 



NATURE 



227 



really lieling to a va-.i^iy of the I'ving Fallow Deer. And I 

 thank its author, Sir Victor Brooke, for having brought forward 

 evidence on the point which is not presented by any of the large 

 series of recent antlers known to me in the British and Con- 

 tinental Museums, and without which I could not venture to 

 identify the fossil with the living form. He has supplied the 

 missing link hitherto sought in vain, and thereby removed two 

 synonyms from the bulky catalogue of fossil mammalia. This 

 identification, however, as I have already remarked in Nature 

 (vo). li., pp. 113, 114), has little, if anything, to do with the 

 further question, raised by Drs. Jeitteles and .Sclater, as to 

 whether the Fallow Deer now living in Northern and Central 

 Europe was introduced — like the horse into South America — 

 by the hand of man ; and on this point I am glad to find my 

 views shared by so high an authority on the Cervidx as Sir 

 Victor Brooke. W. BovD Dawkins 



Owens College, Jan. 16 



The Habits of the Belted Kingfisher {Cerylc alcyon) 

 In Nature, vol. vii. p. 362, I made the assertion that I had 

 "never seen a kingfisher take its food otherwise than by swal- 

 lowing it whole, while yet upon the wing," and therefore ques- 

 tioned the truth of the remark made by Mr. Uarwin, that king- 

 fishers, having caught a fish, "always beat it until it is killed." 

 The truth ol my assertion was doubted by many, and being 

 assured by careful observers that Mr. Darwin's remark did apply 

 to our species, I determined to very carefully study the habits of 

 the bird in question, and have taken every opportunity pobsible, 

 during the past two years, to familiarise myself with the daily 

 routine of its life. The following is the result : — In 1S73 my 

 opportunities were exceptionally good for observing the move- 

 mtnts of a pair of these birds, inasmuch as the whole season 

 through — from April to November — was spent upon the water, 

 studying our freshwater fishes. My daily record of observations 

 mentions my watching the kingfisher «'////<• /eedi>i^, from one to 

 lour times a day for eighty-three days — an average of twice a day, 

 or 166 dives lor fishes, witnessed ; and either every plunge was 

 unsuccessful, or the bird swallowed, before alighting, every hsh he 

 had taken. It is to be presumed, of course, that occasionally the 

 bird missed his prey. At the close of the season, therefore, I 

 felt satisfied that I was correct in my assertions ; but, as one of 

 our best ornithologists has said, "the horizon of one man is at 

 the best very limited, and many ornithological facts occur that 

 are not dreamed of in his phUosophy ; " and so, on mentioning 

 the results of my seven months of observation to a careful 

 observer of our birds, and finding that he sided with Mr. Darwin, 

 I determined to repeat my observations, and have done so 

 through the spring, summer, and early autumn of the present 

 year. My opportunities were equally good, and, very much to 

 my own saiisiaction, I have a dirterent result to give. It is 

 proper to state here, that during the summer of 1S73 my 

 observations were made altogether in one locality, upon one 

 stream — the summit level of a canal — and confined to one pair 

 ol birds. During the present year I watched the kingfishers in 

 several widely differing localities. My note books make men- 

 tion of this bird Irom two to six times in a day, for loi dajs — 

 about 400 observations ; and ot this series, eighty-eight instances 

 are recorded ol seeing the kingfisher capture, and, on alighting, 

 deliberately beating the hsh against the limb on which he stood, 

 and then swallowing the butchered fish. This is a long way Irom 

 being a constant habit of the kingfisher ; less than one-fourth of 

 the fish taken being killed previously to being swallowed. There 

 is, of course, some cause for both habits occurring, and I believe 

 it is to be explained in this way : — 



As already stated, my observations during 1S73 were confined 

 to one pair of kingfishers, and to the one locality they frequented 

 — the summit level of the Delaware and Raritan Canal — and me 

 obvious reason of the kingfishers always swallowing their prey as 

 soon as caught was simply that they fed exclusively on the 

 smaller cyprinoids Irequenting that sheet of water. 1 kiuxv, of 

 my own fishing experience (pursued alter a different manner from 

 the kinghshers, however), that millions of cyprinoids arc lound 

 there, as though they sought there an asylum from the attacks of 

 predatory fishes. 



During the season just past, I took notes on such kingfishers 

 as were seen about two creeks, a mill-pond, and the Delaware 

 River. In each of these localities large fishes of many kinds are 

 more or less abundant, and the percentage of small cyprinoids 

 — from two-and-a-half to three inches long — being much less 

 than in the canal, it would evidently be irksome to so voracious 



a bird as the kingfisher to wait until some fish, the proper sizi 

 for swallowing without preliminary, butchering, should come 

 within reach. 



It therefore seems to depend largely upon the size of the cap- 

 tured fish, whether or not it is killed by the kingfisher before 

 being swallowed. 



On examination of my note-books |I find also that when the 

 parent birds had young in the nest, or while the hen-bird was 

 upon her eggs, the male bird was most frequently seen to carry 

 a fish in his beak to some convenient perch, and there kill and 

 divide It. This appeared to be the manner of proceeding when 

 the parent bird purposed feeding its mate or tlie young ; being 

 able, I judge, to disgorge a fragment of a larger fish, but not to 

 eject an eniire fish. 



Both habits having been found to be true of this bird — that of 

 swallowing the fish when caught, and of killing it before eating 

 it— it is desirable to know why the latter method should be the 

 rule, almost without exception, in some localities. I can only 

 suggest that this may depend upon the anatomical characteristics 

 of tne fishes caught by the kingfishers. When an abundance of 

 cyprinoids — soft-finned fishes — are to be obtained, then little or 

 no preliminary carving on the part of the birds is necessary ; but if 

 young acanthopterygians, and tough, hard-scaled fishes of any 

 lamily, have to be depended upon, then the kingfisher will be 

 carelul to first kill and pull in pieces such fishes, that unsuit- 

 able portions may be rejected. I have a memorandum of one 

 instance where a young gizzard shad (Dorosonia cepedianum) was 

 beheaded and divided intoj four portions before the kingfisher 

 ate it 



In studying the habits'of our American birds — and I suppose 

 it is true of birds everywhere — it must at all times be remem- 

 bered that there is less stability in the habits of birds than is 

 supposed ; and no account of the habits of any one species will 

 exactly detail the various features of its habits as they really are, 

 in every portion of the territory it inhabits. 



Trenton, New Jersey, Nov. 20 Chas. C. Abbott 



Kirke's Physiology 



In Kirke's "Physiology" (p. 128, 7th edition) mention is 

 made of a conception, due to Mr. Savory, concerning a probable 

 function of the Sinuses of Valsalva, which appears to me to be 

 based on a neglect o( an important hydrostatical law. And as 

 this error is not only widely spread, hut is considered a point of 

 some importance among students of physiology, it may not 

 perhaps be unwise, even now, to call attention to it. It is stated 

 that, owing to the expansion of the aorta towards its termina- 

 tion, part of the lorce of the refiux of the column of blood is sus- 

 tained during diastole by the muscular substance of the ventricle. 

 Now, it seems that a consideration of the law above referred to, 

 which is known as Pascal's " Principle of the Equality of Pres- 

 sures," must essentially modify this statement. It will be well 

 to note, however, before tracing its application, that notwith- 

 standing the varying mechanical conditions of the column, and 

 the structures in relation with it, these conditions at any one 

 point of time during dilatation may be regarded as fixed and 

 invariable. Also, that as these conditions vary in degree and 

 not in kind, \i\ax is true of any one period of time must, in so 

 far as the present demonstration is concerned, be true of any 

 other. 



Let us consider the state of things immediately upon the con- 

 clusion of the systole. Firstly, the whole arterial system is in a 

 state of distension, and, in virtue ot its elasticity, tends to con- 

 tract and to impel the blood in two directions — onwards through 

 the capillaries, and backwards against the heart. There is also 

 a cessation of the opposing impulsive force from the ventricle, 

 and the combined effect of these two actions is to produce the 

 ' ' force of reflux. " And since, as has been shown above, it is 

 unnecessary to trace the variations due to the mobility of the 

 system through the whole period of dilatation, it may be said 

 that at any given instant we have the following data, viz., a 

 column of fluid contained in a vessel with an expanded base, 

 and a certain force impressed upon that column. It is obvious 

 that it cannot affect our conclusions to assume that the lorce of 

 reflux is transmitted to an imaginary surface, which we can fix at 

 a point immediately above the expansion of the vessel, where it 

 at ains its normal calibre, and we can then ascertain how this 

 force is further transmitted to the base. This base is, however, 

 made up of two parts, a circumferential part by the muscular 

 substance of the ventricle, and a central part by the semilunar 



