June 22, 1905] 



NA TURE 



^77 



themselves that is made ; the subsequent sunrise has 

 no urgent interest for them ; but in Egypt and Britain 

 the stars were simply the heralds of the greater 

 luminary for which the religious sacrifice had to be 

 prepared by the priests. 



The method of making the determination is as 

 follows : — The surrounding terrestrial phenomena 

 suggest the approach of the dry season, and two men 

 are then sent into the jungle — which probably means 

 any open space with a clear horizon — to await the 

 celestial sign. After watching for a few nights, 

 may be a month, the Pleiades are seen on the horizon 

 just before the light of the rising sun overcomes tliat 

 of the stars. Then the messenger-astronomers re- 

 turn to their village and announce the fact, and the 

 work on the forest is commenced. Should the tribe 

 have been so misled by the workings of terrestrial 

 nature as to delay the making of the observation until 

 Orion's belt rises before daylight, it means that they 

 must work " double-shift " in order to get their 

 ground cleared in time for the vegetable matter to 

 dry thoroughly ere the season for burning it comes 

 round. After this recognition of the season the 

 interest of the tribe in celestial phenomena becomes 

 dormant until the services of the latter are again 

 required. Not until the Pleiades reach the zenith 

 before sunrise do thev consider it advisable to set fire 

 to the refuse, for unless the latter has had enough 

 time to dry thoroughly it will not be completely con- 

 sumed, and the ground will be of no use for rice- 

 growing. 



With the neighbouring tribes, the Kenyahs and the 

 Kayans, the method of determining the seasons is 

 rather more scientific, exhibiting an advanced state of 

 knowledge. These people are acquainted with the 

 various phenomena attending the apparent diurnal 

 and annual movements of the sun. They know that 

 the noon shadow is the shortest, and that it always 

 lies in the same straight line, sometimes to the north, 

 sometimes to the south. Consequently, they utilise 

 this knowledge by measuring either the length of the 

 shadow cast by a gnomon set up vertically on levelled 

 ground, or else the length of a beam of sunlight pro- 

 jected through a small hole in the roof of a hut upon 

 a plank, laid horizontally on the floor by packing it 

 up until round discs will not roll when placed on 

 edge on its surface. The shadow, or beam of light, is 

 measured by means of a stick, on which there are a 

 series of notches. The distance of each notch from 

 the end of the stick represents the length of shadow 

 which experience, tinged, maybe, with superstition, 

 has taught these people to recognise as favourable, or 

 the reverse, for the prosecution of their various agri- 

 cultural operations. The stick, known as " asa do," 

 is carefully preserved in the keeping of an older 

 member of the tribe, duly elected to this office on 

 account of his superior wisdom and his incapacity 

 for more strenuous manual labour, and it is he who 

 watches that the beam is not measured obliquely, and 

 announces the advent of the favourable season for 

 sowing operations to commence. 



A striking phase of the question, showing how 

 limited is the original knowledge, possibly appears in 

 the selection of the Pleiades and Orion's belt as the 

 "Warners." Whv should these two groups be 

 selected by so many difi'erent tribes in so many widely 

 separated ages? A plausible explanation seems to be 

 that their forms are instantly recognisable. Whilst 

 the aboriginal watcher would probably not be able to 

 recognise the isolated, though bright, stars of the 

 large constellations, especially if, as is the case with 

 the Dyaks, no azimuth marks were employed, he 

 could not possibly confuse either of these with any 

 other group of stars. 



William E. Rolston. 



NO. i860, VOL. 72] 



THE FOURTH INTERNATIONAL ORNITHO- 

 LOGICAL CONGRESS. 

 THE International Ornithological Congress 

 assembled in London on Monday, June 12, 

 under the presidency of Dr. R. Bowdler Sharpe, and 

 continued in session to the end of the week. The 

 congress was instituted at Vienna in 18S7 under the 

 patronage of the Crown Prince Rudolph of Austria. 

 The second congress was held at Buda-Pesth, and 

 the third at Paris in 1901, so that the London congress 

 was the fourth of the series. It was well attended 

 by both British and foreign ornithologists — to the 

 number of rather more than 300. They commenced 

 their work on June 12 by an informal meeting at the 

 Imperial Institute, South Kensington, which was the 

 headquarters of the congress during its session. 



The British ornithologists were well represented by 

 Dr. Hartert, of Tring, and Mr. Bonhote, of Cam- 

 bridge, who acted most efficiently as secretaries, while 

 Mr. C. E. Pagan, of the British Museum, looked 

 after the finances as treasurer. These gentlemen 

 were assisted in their duties by Dr. Godman, Mr. 

 Meade-Waldo, Mr. Ogilvie-Grant, Dr. Penrose, the 

 Hon. Walter Rothschild, Dr. Sclater, and Mr. 

 Witherby, who were all members of the organising 

 committee. Many other well known British ornith- 

 ologists attended the meetings, such as Sir Walter 

 Bufler, Dr. Butler, Mr. Dresser, Colonel Godwin- 

 Austen, Mr. Harting, Mr. Pearson, Mr. Pycraft, Mr. 

 Howard Saunders, and Mr. D. Seth-Smith. The 

 French ornithologists were represented by Dr. 

 Oustalet and Dr. Bureau, the German by Graf Hans 

 V. Berlepsch, Dr. Blasius, and Prof. Reichenow, the 

 Dutch by Dr. Biittikofer and Baron Snouckaert van 

 Schauburg, the Austrian by Dr. Lorenz and Dr. 

 Reiser, and the Italian by Dr. Giglioli and Count 

 Arrigoni degli Oddi. From .America came Mr. F. M. 

 Chapman and Dr. Stejneger, from Switzerland Prof. 

 Fatio and Dr. Studer, from Russia Dr. Bianchi and 

 Baron Loudon, from Bulgaria Dr. Paul Leverkiihn, 

 from Canada Mr. Fleming, from Hungary Dr. Her- 

 man, and from Belgium Dr. A. Dubois, all names 

 well known in ornithological science. 



The first general meeting of the congress took 

 place in the morning of June 13, when Dr. Oustalet, 

 the last president, gave up the chair to Dr. Bowdler 

 Sharpe, the new president, who delivered a most in- 

 structive address on the origin and progress of the 

 great national bird-collection in the British Museum, 

 which is under his charge. The meeting was then 

 divided into five sections :— (i) systematic ornithology 

 and distribution ; (2) migration ; (3) biology and 

 oology; (4) economic ornithology; and (5) aviculture, 

 which sat at stated periods throughout the week. To 

 the first section, which was presided over by Dr. 

 P. L. Sclater, F.R.S., about fourteen communications 

 were made, among which were papers by Graf v. 

 Berlepsch on new neotropical birds, by Mr. Pycraft 

 on the importance of the study of nestling birds, 

 which was illustrated by various pregnant instances 

 of the secrets thev have already revealed and are 

 likely to betrav in 'the future, and by Padre Schmitz 

 on the birds of Madeira. In this section also, Dr. 

 Reiser, of Serajevo, exhibited the series of North- 

 Brazilian birds which had been obtained during Dr. 

 Steindachner's recent expedition to the Rio St. 

 Francisco, and Mr. Walter Rothschild showed his 

 unique copy of " Les Voyages de Sieur B.," with the 

 map attached, which contains much information on 

 the now extinct birds of the Mascarene Islands. 



In the second section, which met on Tuesday and 

 Saturday, with Dr. Herman, of Buda-Pesth, in the 

 chair, Mr. J. H. Fleming gave particulars of an 

 unusual migratory visit of Brunnich's murre to the 



