December 31, 190S] 



NA TURE 



255 



Luiifficial, tlirouf^h other grades to wholly destructive 

 :md useless species. 



Cominj^ now to the results, it is shown that insects 

 were found in 41 per cent, of the total post-inorlciii 

 ticords and pellets, while if certain birds — e.g. finches, 

 owls, hawks, and water birds — are omitted " the 

 iiisicts forminr;- the whole or part of the dietary of 

 ihi- rcinaining birds amount to between 70 and 75 

 prr cenl." 



L.argc numbers of injurious insects were taken by 

 .ill kinds of birds, click beetles and their larvae (wire- 

 worms), weevils, crane flies and their larvae (leather 

 Jackets), .surface caterpillars and winter moth cater- 

 pill.-irs being numerous; for example, five specimens 

 of the rojk contained between them 213 surface cater- 

 pill.irs, and 120 winter moth larva; were found in .-i 

 j.iy's stomach. 



(ir.'iin occurred in about 77 cases, but in almosl 

 pigliirible quantities, and, exccj)!: in the case of the 

 lil.ukbird and of fruit buds damaged by the bullfinch 

 ind blue titmouse, cultivated fruit was scarcely repre- 

 -inicd. N'oxious weed seeds were taken bv m.anv 

 birds. 



Of the birds themselves, the majority come under 

 ilie " useful " class; the song thrush, great and blue 

 Ills, greenfinch, chaffinch and rook have the b;ilance 

 of utility in their favour; the blackbird, bulinnch, 

 sp.irrow-hawk and raven are destructive and dnubt- 

 Uilly of any utility; while it is noteworthy that those 

 species regarded as " wholly destructive and useless " 

 number but three — the carrion crow, house sparrow 

 (nd wood pigeon, the food of the two latter, however, 

 not being considered. 



.Mr. Ncwst^ad's paper should be widelv read, for it 

 may certainly be held as a vindication of the bird 

 world, and it is easy to understand the author's 

 etiiphasis of the great value of the majorilv of birds. 

 A- hinted in the official preface, it is to be hoped that 

 iiirthcr re|)orts will be forthcoming at a later date. 



.\Y)T. '•;>-. 



Tmf, most disastrous earthquake in Europe for nianv 

 year.s was experienced in Calabria and the district of 

 Messina, in Sicily, on Monday, December 28. The shock 

 orrurred at 5.20 a.m., and was followed by a great sea- 

 wave, which appears to have destroyed Messina and 

 Reggio, and also the greater part of the villages on each 

 -ido of the Straits of ^[essina. Reports froin Catanzaro 

 -late that the first intimation of the disturbance was a 

 prolonged, thunderous noise followed by a vivid flash of 

 ^Inning, and at thr- same time by a series of violent 

 hoeks which seemed interminable. Heavy torrential rain 

 then fell, and continued to fall during Tuesday. .Accord- 

 :rig to reports from Times correspondents, so complete has 

 '" rn the destruction of Messina that it is almost impossible 

 " obtain any connected account of the character of the 

 irthquake. The centre of the disturbance seems to have 

 ■rn in the Straits, and it is greatly feared that the whole 

 information of the neighbouring coast-line has been 

 li inged. On Tuesday, the oflicer of a torpedo-boat who 

 < it .Messina for Reggio sent after a- few hours the follow- 

 ig message: — "I cannot find Reggio; if it exists, it is 

 11 longer where it w;is." The lighthouses in the Straits 

 hive been rendered useless by the earthquake, and it is 

 rumoured that the configuration of the bottom of the Strait-; 

 has been altered greatly. It is estimated that the number 

 iif deaths will reach the terrible total of 100,000, for in 

 Messina alone 50,000 lives are .said to have been lost. It 

 will be recalled that the province of Calabria was visited 

 with like disasters in September, 1905, and October, iqn-. 

 N'O. 20-14, ■^C'l-. 79I 



A TOUCH of real winter has set in over Great Britain 

 since Christmas,- and the closing days of Dcce.nber will be 

 remembered for the heavy falls of snow and the severe 

 frosts which have occurred. At Christmas a cold but dry 

 easterly wind was blowing over the whole country, but 

 on December 27 a shallow disturbance traversed the 

 northern portion of the kingdom, and a fall of snow was 

 generally experienced. The heaviest fall occurred in Scot- 

 land, but the amounts were fairly large over England, the 

 fall being generally augmented on the following days, and 

 much inconvenience was occasioned on our railways and to 

 other traffic. The frost was exceptionally keen in all parts 

 of Great Britain, and unusually low temperatures occurred 

 in many places. The lowest thermometer readings were 

 mostly experienced on the night of December 28 and on 

 the following day. At Oxford the thermometer on the 

 grass registered 14°, and at (ireenwich a similar thermo- 

 meter read 17° on the early morning of December 29. 

 .Much snow has fallen in London and the suburbs, and in 

 St. James's Park, the observing station of the Meteor- 

 ological Office, the sheltered thermometer stood at 22° at 

 mid-day on December 29. The Greenwich records for the 

 past sixty-eight years only show three instances of the 

 highest day temperature below 25° in Dcceaiber ; these 

 occurred in 1S55, 1874, and 1890, the lowest previous record 

 being 23''-2, in 1S55. Intense cold has occurred generally 

 over western Europe, the minimum thermometer in the 

 screen registering 3° at Berlin and 5° at Brussels on the 

 night of December 28. This severe weather was accom- 

 panied by high easterly w'inds in many places. 



\\]-: learn with deep regret of the death of Dr. J. M. 

 Pernter, director of the Zentralanstalt fiir iSIeteorologie und 

 Geodynamik in X'ienna, and professor of terrestrial phvsics 

 in the university there. Dr. Pernter died on December 20 

 at .\rco, in South Tyrol, a; sixn- years of age. 



The Weekly Weather Report just issued by the Meteor- 

 ological Ollice gives a summary of the observations for 

 the past year. The highest shade temperatures for the 

 several districts range from 91° in the west of Scotland to 

 81° in the north of Scotland .-md in the north of Ireland. 

 The lowest temperatures range fro.n )o° in tlie east of 

 Scotland and in the Midland counties to 19° in the north 

 of Scotland and 24° in the English Channel. The mean 

 temperature was not generally very different from the 

 average, but there was mostly a slight excess. The number 

 of rainy days ranged from 252 in the north of Scotland to 

 U17 in the south-east of England, and they were niostlv 

 in fair agreement with the normal. The largest aggregate 

 rainfall for the year was 51-14 inches, in the north of 

 Scotland, which is 1-17 inches less than the average; the 

 next largest measurement was 46-85 inches, in the west 

 of Scotland. The largest total in the English districts was 

 36-36 inches, in the north-west, and the least 20-14 inches, 

 in the north-east. The rainfall was nearlv evervwhere in 

 defect of the average ; in the south-west of England the 

 deficiency was 6-93 inches. The duration of bright sun- 

 shine varied considerably in different parts of the kingdom, 

 the largest amount being 1897 hours, in the English 

 Channel district. In the south-east of England there was 

 the greatest excess, the total duration being 1737 hours, 

 which is 140 hours more than usual. 



W'f. regret to see the announcement of the death of Dr. 

 (iiorge Gore, E.R.S., at eighty-two years of age. 



AccoRUIXG to a Reul(-r message, the newspapers of 

 Burgos report that five meteoritie stones, weighing from 



