178 



NA TURE 



[June 22, 1905 



interior of Canada, and Dr. Helm brought forward 

 some new observations on the migration of the 

 starling in Germany. 



The third section, for biology, nidification and 

 oology, was presided over by Dr. ^'ictor Fatio, of 

 Geneva, and received communications from the Rev. 

 C. R. Jourdain on erythrism in eggs, and from Dr. 

 R. Blasius on the bird-life of the Pyrenees. In this 

 section also, Mr. Frank M. Chapman, of New York, 

 delighted his audience by his vivid description of the 

 breeding-places of the scarlet flamingo and brown 

 pelican in the Bahamas, which he had lately visited, 

 and by his excellent photographic illustrations of these 

 birds and their nests. 



Mr. H. E. Dresser took the presidential chair in 

 the fourth section, which was devoted to economic 

 ornithology and the protection of birds, and was well 

 attended. Papers were read here by Dr. Herman on 

 his recent observations on the constituents of the food 

 of birds, by Sir John Cockburn on the legislation 

 that had taken place in Australia for the preservation 

 of bird-life, and by Mr. T. Digby-Pigott on the 

 present state of the laws on the same' subject in Great 

 Britain and Ireland, which seem to require careful 

 revision. Mr. Frank E. Lemon, secretarv of the 

 Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, also lectured 

 on the same subject. 



In section five faviculture) the communications were 

 not so numerous, but Mr. D. Seth-Smith, the editor 

 of the Avicidtural Journal, did not omit to urge the 

 importance of his special branch of ornithologv as 

 an aid to scientific studv, which, indeed, is 'now 

 generally admitted. 



Besides the sections, general meetings were held 

 on the Wednesday and Fridav, at which various 

 ornithological topics of general interest were dis- 

 cussed. Papers were read bv Dr. Paul Leverkiihn. 

 of Sophia, on the breeding-places of the vultures and 

 eagles in the Balkans, bv Dr. Herman on the state of 

 ornithology in Hungarv and on the theorv of the 

 migration of birds and its origin, and bv Mr. J. L. 

 Bonhote on the hybridisation'of ducks; while Mr. 

 \\ . S. Bruce gave an interesting account of the 

 ornithological results of the Scottish Antarctic Ex- 

 pedition which are now being worked out. Besides 

 these papers, Dr. Edward \\'ilson gave an excellent 

 lecture on the birds obtained and' observed in the 

 Antarctic seas and lands during the recent National 

 Antarctic Expedition, and showed off the manners 

 and customs of the penguins in a long series of photo- 

 graphs. 

 • Thursday, June 15, was entirely devoted to a visit 

 to the great zoological museum 'at Tring, of which 

 the birds (under the curatorship of Dr. Hartert) form 

 one of the most prominent features. It is needless to 

 say that the ornithologists were most hospitably re- 

 ceived and entertained bv Mr. Walter Rothschild,' who 

 further delighted the visitors bv a lecture on 

 birds extinct or likelv soon to 'become so, one 

 of his pet subjects of studv. This lecture was illus- 

 trated by the exhibition of a splendid series of speci- 

 mens of the birds in question, for which the Tring 

 Museum is celebrated, and by numerous drawings 

 collected from everv quarter whence information on 

 this subject could be obtained. 



.At the final meeting, held on Saturdav, June 17, 

 It was agreed that the next assemblage of the Inter- 

 national Ornithological Congress should take place 

 m 1910 in Germanv, with Dr. Reichenow, of Berlin, 

 as president, and Dr. R. Blasius and Graf Hans von 

 Berlepsch as vice-presidents. It was hoped that the 

 meeting would be held at Berlin, but the president 

 and vice-presidents were authorised to select any other 

 city in Germany as the place of assemblage in case 

 NO. 1 860, VOL. 72] 



they should find it more expedient to do so. It was also 

 agreed, on the motion of Mr. Walter Rothschild, to 

 send telegrams to the Governments of Tasmania and 

 New Zealand requesting them to interfere with the 

 destruction of the penguins in the .Antarctic islands 

 now carried on in order to obtain the small quantity 

 of oil which is contained in the bodies of these un- 

 fortunate birds. 



THE THAMES FLOW AXD BRITISH 

 PRESSURE AXD RAINFALL CHANGES. 



DL'RING the years 1903 and 1904 there appeared 

 two reports dealing with the flow of the Thames 

 in relation to the rainfall of the river's basin, the 

 first being published by the London County Council 

 and the second by the Thames Conservators. The 

 material dealt with extended over the period 18S3 to 

 1903, and the very close association between rainfall 

 and flow was clearly brought out. 



In a recent communication to the Royal Society by 

 Sir Norman Lockyer and the writer, an attempt has 

 been made to discuss data from the year i860 up to 

 the present time, involving not only statistics of rain- 



MONTHS. ,n|A,n,J|J,ftiS,0,M,D|J,r,n,A,M,J,J,A,S,0 



RAINFALL '* 



BRITISH ISLES 251- 

 1866- 1900 



THAMES 



FjG. I. — The curve representing the mean annual variation of the Thames 

 flow lag-i five months behind that of the mean annual rainfall of the 

 British Isles. 



fall over a wider area than that dealt with in the 

 above mentioned inquiries, but changes of barometric 

 pressure in Great Britain and certain distant areas. 



In consequence of the fact that the British annual 

 variation of rainfall is at a minimum in about .\pril 

 and a maximum in about October, the rainfall observ- 

 ations have been grouped into twelve months extend- 

 ing from .April to the following March, both months 

 inclusive. The annual variation of the river flow 

 (see Fig. i) for similar reasons necessitated a different 

 grouping of the twelve months; in this case the vear 

 was taken to cover the period September to the follow- 

 ing .\ugust, both months inclusive. The flow of the 

 river will thus be seen to lag five months behind the 

 rainfall. 



In the following curves here reproduced the rain- 

 fall for each group of twelve months (.April to March) 

 is compared directly with the river flow for the twelve 

 months commencing in September of the same year. 



Re-computing the rainfall and river statistics^ pub- 

 lished in the above mentioned reports, according to 

 these new divisions of the year, the changes from 

 year to year can be seen in Fig. 2 (curves iii. and iv. 

 continuous lines). To investigate variation in the 

 river flow previous to 1883, an application to the 

 Thames _ Conservators resulted in securing original 

 data which have enabled the curve to be traced back 

 to the year 1S60 (Fig. 2, curve iii., dotted portion). 

 .As a check on the whole of this curve another series 

 of gauge readings was similarly treated, and these 

 are shown in curve ii. The synchronous variations in 



