9 6 



NATURE 



[July 20, 191 1 



observatories subsidised by the Meteorological Committee, 

 is of more than usual interest. It contains meteorological 

 means for the lustrum 1906-10, and for the forty years 

 1S71-1910; also sea-temperature observations taken about 

 one mile outside the harbour for the same lustrum, and 

 means for thirty-one years, compiled with great care by 

 the superintendent, Mr. E. Kitto. The monthly means of 

 air temperature in 1910 were: — January, 44-2°; July, 

 58-2°; year, 51-1° (0-4° above the normal). Rainfall for 

 year, 52-84 inches (7^ inches above the normal, due partly 

 to an unusually heavy fall, 9-22 inches, in December). 

 The percentage of possible duration of sunshine was 38 

 (which was exactly normal). The mean temperature of 

 the sea in 1910 was 52-1°; the only months in which the 

 mean was below that of the air were May-August. In the 

 valuable work of terrestrial magnetism the observatory 

 received grants amounting altogether to 100Z. from the 

 Royal Society and British Association. The principal mean 

 values for the year were : — declination, 17 41-6' W. ; 

 inclination, 66° 29-1' N. ; horizontal force, 0-18802 (C.G.S. 

 units). 



The Fernley Observatory, Southport (1910). — The prin- 

 cipal station of this important observatory is situated in 

 the Hesketh Public Park ; the equipment is very complete 

 and in duplicate. There are also branch stations at Marsh- 

 side (for anemographs), Birkdale, and Barton Moss. The 

 director, Mr. Joseph Baxendell, is an enthusiast in the 

 work, and meteorologists are indebted to him for various 

 improvements in self-recording instruments and for 

 inquiries into many interesting details. Among several 

 such matters in the present report we may mention (1) the 

 alteration of a Richard hair hygrograph to enable daily 

 instead of weekly traces to be obtained from the instru- 

 ment, and some valuable results have already been 

 obtained. (2) Careful experiments have shown how the 

 readings of a thermometer were vitiated by the metallic 

 fittings of an instrument in the enlarged Stevenson 

 screen. The mean temperature of the year was 48-7° 

 (0-5° above the average) : maximum, 78-2°, in July ; mini- 

 mum, 16-0°, in January. The rainfall was 35-04 inches 

 (2-14 inches above the average). Bright sunshine, 1568-4 

 hours (ii-o hours above the average). A rather surprising 

 cold wave was felt by the deeper underground thermo- 

 meters ; its greatest effect was at 10 feet in February 

 and at 20 feet in March. The very useful table of com- 

 parative statistics at other health resorts and large towns 

 again appears in the report. 



Mysore Meteorological Department (iqoq). — This seven- 

 teenth annual report, carefully compiled by Mr. N. V. 

 Iyengar, chief observer in charge, contains detailed 

 observations at the high-level stations Bangalore (3021 

 feet), Hassan (3140 feet), Mysore (2518 feet), and Chital- 

 drug (2405 fret), with means for the seventeen years 

 1893-10,00. As in former years, the results. have been 

 worked out in great detail. Over the province as a whole 

 the departure of the mean annual temperature from the 

 normal was insignificant. The highest monthlv mean 

 maximum was 96-1°, in March and April at Chitaldrug. 

 and the lowest mean minimum was 57-2°, in January at 

 Hassan. Absolute maximum, ioo-6°, in April at Chital- 

 drug ; minimum, 52-2°, in January at Hassan. The mean 

 rainfall was nearly 16 per cent, above the average. The 

 rainfall statistics have been separately published (Nature, 

 Fi l-i uary 16). 



Deutsche uberseeische meteorologische Beobachttmgcn 

 (1909).— The nineteenth volume of this series of observa- 

 tions, published with the assistance of the Colonial Depart- 

 ment, now extends to 116 quarto pages, and is divided 

 into three sections : — (0 monthlv and yearly means at 

 certain hours at stations under the immediate control of 

 the Deutsche Seewarte in various parts of the world: 



(2) observations at stations in German East Africa ; and 



(3) observations in Togoland (West Africa). The monthly 

 and yearly results for all stations in sections (2) and (3) 

 will he eventually published in the Mitteilungen from 

 German protectorates by Baron v. Danckelman. Full 

 particulars about instruments and references to informa- 

 tion about stations are given, and the extreme values are 

 printed in thick type. These observations are of the 



test importance to meteorological science, and yearly 

 increase in value. 



NO. 2177, V0L - 87] 



Sonnblick Society (1910). — As a preliminary to the 

 investigation of the influence of climate upon the varia- 

 tions of the Goldberg glacier it was decided, with the 

 financial assistance of the Vienna Academy of Sciences, to 

 have a survey made of the district. After removal of 

 many difficulties, Baron v. Hubl proposed to make use of 

 Dr. Pulfrich's stereoscopic method; the work was satis- 

 factorily carried out by the Military Geographical Insti- 

 tute-, and a coloured plan has been added to the present 

 report. The following are some of the meteorological 

 results for the Sonnblick Observatory (Rauris, Austria), 

 altitude 10,187 feet: — mean temperature: January, 

 7-9° F. ; July, 30-4°; year, 19-6°; absolute maximum, 47-7°, 

 in July; minimum, —13-5°, in January. Melted snow 

 and rain, 678 inches, on 258 days. Fog occurred on 281 

 days; each month had at least twenty days. Particulars 

 relating to other mountain stations are given, as in 

 previous reports. 



BIRD-NOTES. 

 'THE April number of The Emu contains an interesting 

 •*■ account, by Mr. S. VV. Jackson, of the nesting 

 haunts of the rufous scrub-bird {Atrichornis rufescens), 

 which, together with A. clamosa of Western and South- 

 western Australia, represents a peculiar family group. 

 The expedition, which took place in September, 19 10, was 

 directed to the high Dorrigo scrubs at the head of the 

 Bellinger River, New South Wales, where the first known 

 nest and eggs were taken twelve years earlier. In addition 

 to obtaining a second nest and eggs, it was the object of 

 the expedition to procure a female, of which no example 

 was then known. The nest finally discovered, of which 

 photographs are given, was a large dome-shaped struc- 

 ture, with a tubular entrance, built amid thick bush in a 

 tussock of dead carex grass. It was constructed of this 

 grass and leaves, with a lining of a hard dry material 

 made of wood-pulp, . upon which the two eggs rested. 

 The latter were removed by constructing a kind of 

 extemporary ladle, but were eventually returned for a time 

 to the nest as a lure to the female, who, however, eluded 

 all attempts at her capture. A pair of lyre-birds had their 

 nest and playground a short distance away. 



To the May number of British Birds Mr. A. L. Thomp- 

 son contributes a summary of the most recent records of 

 stork-migration. It is now established that there is a 

 south-easterly migration of storks across Europe in 

 autumn, birds ringed in Denmark having been taken 

 respectively at Brandenburg, near Frankfort-on-Oder, and 

 in Austrian Silesia. This migration is remarkable in that 

 its line cuts at right angles the route taken by the great 

 majority of birds at the same season. As regards migra- 

 tion to and from Africa, Prussian storks have been taken 

 in Syria, Palestine, and near Alexandria in some instances 

 in the first, and in others in the second, year after mark- 

 ing. One Hungarian stork was also taken in Syria. On 

 the other hand, three Prussian storks were severally taken 

 during their first autumn near Lake Chad, .on the Blue 

 Nile, and on the Victoria Nyanza ; a bird which left 

 Pomerania at the end of August was taken in north- 

 east Rhodesia early in December, while a Prussian 

 stork was shot in the Kalahari during its first winter. 

 Further, there are records of seven Prussian storks taken 

 in the Transvaal, Natal, Basutoland, and the north of 

 Cape Colony, and also of about a dozen Hungarian birds 

 from the same area, while one was obtained so far west 

 as German South-West Africa. With one exception, all 

 these birds were taken during the northern winter; but 

 til- exception was captured in July. So far as the records 

 admit of generalisation, it appears that storks generally 

 return to their original summer haunts; hut there is a 

 notable exception in the case of a bird hatched near 

 Brunswick in 1008, which made its appearance a couple 

 of years later about 437 miles away, in eastern Prussia. 

 This instance, together with the Lake Chad and German 

 South-Wesl Alii.. ui records, and the one noted below, 

 indicate that further inquiry is necessary before our know- 

 ledge of the subject can be regarded as anything like 

 complete. Very remarkable is the capture near Barcelona 

 in September, 1910, of a bird hatched in the neighbour- 

 hood of Cassel, as this west German stork took a line of 



