428 



NATURE 



S^March 6, 1884 



an hour later, in Manchester, the sun glowed with the ordinary 

 cuppery-red hue it assumes when seen through a thin fog. 



Edward J. Bles 

 Moor End, Kersal, near Manchester, February 26 



Instinct 



I DO not think tliat the difference Ijetween Mr. Lloyd Morgan 

 and myself on the p lint to uliicli he returns in his last letter is 

 so ^reat as it at first appeared. For he now admits that "the 

 actions of animals testify to some corresponding mental states," 

 and therefore that from such actions we are entitled to infer 

 something as to these states. His objection to comparative 

 psychology as a science is thus reduced to the observation that 

 our inference frum bodily actions to mental states cannot Ije so 

 clear or certain in the case of animals as in the case of men, 

 where intentional sign-making, or language, comes to our 

 assistance. Now this is precisely what I argued in my o"n 

 communication to Nature (p. 379), and also in my books. 

 Therefore I do not consider that this is " an ingeniously con- 

 structed argument of scepticism " ; I applied that phrase to the 

 argument which denies the possibility of all or any ejective 

 knowledge, both of men and animals. 



Thus the only point of dispute between us is whether such con- 

 ceptions as we can form of the mental life of animals are 

 sufficient to constitute this mental life the subject-matter nf a 

 science — i.e. whether this mental life admits of investigation. 

 And, so far as I am aware, Mr. Morgan is the only individual 

 who has ever said that such is not the case. 



George J- Romanes 



There is a remarkable instance of instinct displayed by the 

 common magpie which I have not seen noticed in Nature or 

 anywhere else, althout;h it has long attracted my attention and 

 is well known to farmers in the west of Scotland. This bird 

 may be seen each year, on the first .Sunday of March (old style), 

 very busily employed carrying small twigs of branches to renew 

 its old nest or form a new one for the approaching breeding season. 

 This particular day appears to be a|ipointed for taking formal 

 possession of the premises, as no more work whatever is done for 

 some weeks after. The instinct which enables a bird to take 

 the sun's altitude on a particular day in March is certainly a very 

 rare gift, but any person who wishes to satisfy himself of its 

 truth, and who lives in a locality where these birds breed, has 

 only to rise early on Sunday, March 16, this year, to see them 

 at work for him-;elf. It would be interesting to know within 

 what degrees of latitude this particular day is observed by these 

 birds. \Vm. Brown 



" Mental Evolution in Animals " 

 I AM as unwilling as Mr. Romanes to continue this discussion 

 needlessly, but inaccuracy calls for correction. Mr. Romanes 

 says that "the glass wall of a tank is not an object upon the 

 solidity of which a skate would be likely to calculate." If he 

 will read' my original account of the incident again, he'vvill find 

 that the skate made himself absolutely sure of the solidity of the 

 glass wall of the tank ; he tried hard to seize the food, and failed 

 because he could not get his head through the glass, and there- 

 fore his mouth could not touch the food. As for his beinij 

 unable to see the food when the current lifted it, that is precisely 

 my case. But he saw it clearly enough, and had tangiljle 

 experience of the conditions, before he adopted the succesful 

 device. If the matter is worth noticing, it may as well be 

 described correctly. F. J. F.\raday 



Manchester, February 29 



I WILLINGLY apologise for making the remark about the glass 

 wall without having first consulted Mr. Faraday's original 

 account ; but as, in " noticing " the matter in " Animal Intelli- 

 gence," I quoted that account Virbalim, I cannot allow that on 

 the only occasion when I " described " the circumstances I 

 failed to do so "correctly." G. ]. Romanes 



Natural Snowballs 



It is nearly a year since I inclosed to you an account of the 

 natural snowballs or snow-rollers which were to be seen in great 

 numliers for many square luiles in this vicinity on February 21, 

 1SS3. A friend has called my attention to a brief new^papcr 



report of a recurrence of the same remarkable phenomenon on a 

 larger scale in Oneida and Herkimer counties, in the State of 

 New York. The rollers were formed by the wind on the night . 



of Tuesday, January 22, and are said to have been "innumer- I 



able," hundreds being seen on an acre of ground. The measure- ) 



ments of the largest are the same as those which I made of the 1 



largest that I saw last year, 18 inches in length and 12 in dia- 

 meter. But, whereas all of last year's were extremely delicate, '. 

 so as to yield to the touch, it is reported that some of those seen 

 in January wei-e "solid and so firm that they could be handled 

 quite roughly without breaking." I send these memoranda to 

 you, thinking that you may deem them worthy of preservation in 

 the columns of your journal. Samuel Hart 

 Trinity College, Hartford, Conn., U.S.A., February 16 



Common Domestic Duck Diving for Food j 



When at Buxton last August I spent a good deal of my time 1 

 in watching and occasionally feeding the water-fowl in the I 

 ponds of the garden. On week-days the ducks received large I 

 contributions from the visitors, but on Sundays they apparently • 



were on rather short commons, judging by their greater activity 7 

 in searching for food, and constantly standing on their heads in I 

 the water so as to search the bottom for aquatic plants. Of 

 course every scrap of plant to the depth of ten or fifteen inches 

 (eighteen inches where the geese were) was cleared away. 



I was surprised one Sunday to see a common domestic duck • 



(female) diving in three or four feet of water, and searching along j 

 the bottom, as if she had been " to the manner born," for plants, j 

 which, when she found, were brought to the surface ; some : 

 fifteen or twenty other ducks watched her proceedings with great 

 interest, and made an immediate rush at her when she came up 

 to share in the food, exactly as the widgeon pnunce upon the 

 canvas-back ducks at the mouth of the Delaware River and other 

 favourite winter feeding-places of these del'cious birds, which, 

 notwithstanding their difficidties with their thievish tormentors, 

 must manage to pick up a fairly good living, as when killed they _' 

 are usually in fine condition. 



I saw only one duck (a mallard) at Buxton make any attempt 

 to imila'e the clever diver, but his efforts were always igno- 

 minious failures. Had I been living in Buxton I should have 

 endeavoured to get some eggs of this diving duck and had them 

 hatched, with the object of finding out if the progeny inherited 

 the peculiarity of the mother. John Rae 



4, Addison Gardens, March i 



Circular Rainbow seen from a Hill-top 



In the evening of the first Sunday in last September, when, 

 it will be remembered, there v\as a very severe storm, I was 

 walking alone up the south side of the top of the Belchen, in the 

 Black Forest ; the sun was setting in the west over the Rhine, 

 and for some time my shadow was thrown on the mist filling up 

 the valley to the east of the Belchen, and around it was a most 

 distinct rainbow, with all the usual colours. It was so striking 

 that it at once suggested the halo one sees in religious picttires, 

 except that it was round the whole figure, and not confined to 

 the head. I thought this anecdote might interest those gentle- 

 men who have already written to you about this beautiful pheno- 

 menon, and especially Mr. Maynard, who I see writes from the 

 Black Forest. W. H.\LE White 



4, St. Thomas's Street, S.E., March I 



Girton College 



In reference to a paragraph in Nature (vol. xxijt. p. 388) 

 respecting the representation of the students of the College Hall 

 of Residence, Byng Place, on their governing body, allow me 

 to state that the students of Girton College have been repre- 

 sented on the College Committee for some seven years past. The 

 representatives of the students are three in number, one retiring 

 annually ; they are elected Ijy those students who hold the college 

 certificate, and have been chosen, so far, from among them- 

 selves. As the certificated students keep up a more or less 

 close connection with the College, and their representatives pay 

 regular visits of inspection, the views of past and present students 

 can be formally laid before the College Committee. This privi- 

 lege is much appreciated by the studeiits. If you have received 

 no other letter to this effect, may I ask you to inseit the above 

 information ? Certificated Student 



February 26 



