May 7, 1896J 



NA TURE 



this day shown any signs of life whatever, allhough seeds from 

 the same packet, planted simultaneously umlcr ordinary circum- 

 stances, are now well-grown young plants. After my first 

 failure, I procured pure concentrated formic acid (sp. gr. I'joo) 

 freshly made, and on repeating the experiments with it, other 

 things being the same as in the former experiment, the result was 

 again entirely negative. I then tried various other seeds, first 

 soaking them in water for periods varying from five hours to three 

 days before treating them with the acid, but all with no result. 

 So far as I could judge, the only effect of the acid was to increase 

 the density of the seed and to retard the gnnvth, so much so that 

 some of the seeds (common Lupinus), which under formic acid 

 showed no signs of growth, as soon as they were thoroughly 

 washed and placed under normal conditions began to germinate 

 in the usual way. Since these experiments I have tried many 

 diflferent seeds and many different strengths, but have only so far 

 succeeded in retarding their growth. I also attempted to inject 

 the acid ( i "5000) by means of a hypodermic syringe into the 

 substance of growing .seeds and bulbs, and in two instances I 

 succeeded in killing a Begonia tuber and an .\rum lily, and cer- 

 tainly none of the other plants treated showed the faintest 

 symptom of increased vitality. W. R. M. SemI'I.e. 



Hendford Park, Yeovil, April 11. 



Rooks at Nesting Time. 



Opposite my windows are lofty elms on which rooks have 

 established themselves. In one tree there are three nests with 

 sitting birds : a fourth nest, which was built this spring, has 

 never been fully occupied, and a fifth is now in course of con- 

 struction. 



It is in relation to the last two nests that a singular fact is 

 noticeable. .\ pair of rooks are apparently mated, flying off 

 and returning together, and roosting at night on the same 

 branch. 



Both are engaged in building, but on different boughs ; both 

 select the same tree, almost the same branch, for twigs, and 

 both return home .spray in beak. But while the hen bird flies 

 to the incomplete nest (which she has built up, unaided, from the 

 beginning, and is now three-fourths finished), the cock bird 

 settles on the old nest, at the other side of the tree, and adds 

 an upper story to an already capacious mansion. 



How is this binary housekeeping or nest-building to be 

 explained ? 



There have been further complications in the rookery since I 

 wrote the foregoing a fortnight ago. 



Then the situation was that a couple of rooks (apparently 

 paired) were working together in collecting twigs; but while the 

 hen bird carried hers to a new nest on the north side of an elm, 

 the cock took his to an old nest on the south side. 



Still they roosted and flew together, and behaved as engaged 

 rooks should do, the cock now and then bringing a twig or two 

 to the hen's ne.st, but chiefly working on his own. 



In a few days the cock brought home anuther mate, and both 

 birds .set to work at the old nest. Although, for a day or two, 

 appearances were still preserved, the original hen at last resented 

 this trifling with her affections ; she pecked at and drove off the 

 cock, stole lining from his nest, and has since lived a life solitary 

 and misanthropic. I see no sign of a new mate, but the hen 

 sits by or on her own nest, and routs all new-comers who 

 approach it. 



( )n the same tree I have seen a singular case of wholesale 

 burglary in which the sufferers are the new occupants of the old 

 nest I have referred to, and the burglars a new pair of rooks. 

 Fur a week they strove and failed to build a nest in an honest 

 way, i.e. by breaking twigs from other trees ; but they made no 

 progress, the wind repeatedly blowing away the foundation 

 during their absence in quest of materials. 



(Jne night, however, the wind dropped. The pair got up very 

 early next morning, fell on the old nest (the tenants having gone 

 off to feed), and by nine o'clock had three parts finished'a new 

 nest, on the north-west side, built entirely out of plunder from 

 the old nest. To this they have since added a clumsy top story 

 made of new materials. 



One other curious fact, and I will take up no more of your 

 space. On another elm a stray hen had persisted in thrusting 

 her unwelcome attentions on an established pair now feeding 

 their squabs. She had been there some days, and apparently 

 was at last tolerated. (Jne night, however, as many as ten 

 desperate battles took place ; the combatants falling, still locked 



NO. 1384, VOL. 54] 



in combat, from the topmost bough almost to the ground, and 

 as often returning to the fray at the nest-side. This morning 

 Aunt Caroline is iioii est, but I expect she will turn up again 

 before long. Meanwhile, due perhaps to the extra food the 

 young birds got by the exertions of the aunt, they are the largest 

 and strongest in the rooker)'. F. E. Baines. 



Leamington, April 28. 



An Auroral Display on May 2. 



0.\ the evening of Saturday, May 2, at Filey (Yorkshire) I 

 observed faint indications of an auroral display as early as \r> 

 o'clock. On going out of the house at 1 1. 10, five streaks of 

 light were seen in the north, and a small cloud of light appeared 

 on the horizon, which quickly ro.se and formed a perfect bow of 

 light of great length and some 10° above the horizon at its 

 highest point; by 11. 15 all the streaks had disappeared. At 

 11.30, rapid be.ams of light were seen following the curve of the 

 bow from west to east, each succeeded by straight arrow-like flashes 

 above the bow in the opposite direction; 11.36, streaks again, 

 appeared on the eastern side ; 11.39, the bow threw off clouds 

 of light radially, first on the western, then on the eastern side ; 

 11.42, the phenomena observed at 11.30 again set in on the 

 western side ; 11.49, 'he bow became very sharp towards the 

 west and threw out streaks of light, while towards the east it 

 became broken and flickering; 11.55, streamers appeared or» 

 the eastern side, and the bow became contracted on this side and 

 smaller, striking the horizon at a higher angle ; n.58, the bow 

 thickened and threw off radial clouds again; 12. i, a fine 

 streamer appeared on the extreme eastern side ; 12.3, the bow 

 became very irregular, and for the first time the streamers 

 appeared to start below the bow, three very sharp ones forming 

 towards the east ; 12.7, a second bow formed below the original 

 one ; 12.9, the bow broke up entirely towards the east into fine 

 streamers, radial clouds of light being thrown off in the west ; 

 12.20, bow became very indistinct in the west, and streamers, 

 gave place to clouds of light in the east ; 12.22, streamers re- 

 appeared in the east ; 12.25, ^■''^ of 'he bow- reformed ; iz.27, 

 bow narrowed down and broke into two bows ; 12.30, bow 

 became irregular and sank down towards the horizon; 12.37, 

 bow disappeared and faint streamers formed. After this a 

 gradual fading set in, but the light was still visible though feeble 

 at I a.m. The atmosphere had been exceptionally clear all 

 through the day. " A. F. M. 



Felsted School, Essex. 



Daylight Meteor, April 12. 



The meteor referred to in N.\ture of April 23 (p. 5S1), was 

 seen by me in Glasgow, low down on the S. E. horizon, at 

 8.5 p.m. The position of its visible path was carefully noted 

 at the time in relation to a church spire, which it just seemed to 

 touch. On April 27, at 10.30 p.m. the centre of the fuil moon 

 was 2° above this point, its declination was therefore 22° 13' S., 

 and its R.A. on April 12 at 8.5 p.m. was loh 39m. On account 

 of some intervening shrubs the meteor's path was only visible 

 over a distance of 10°, but the declination seemed to remain 

 unchanged. C. E. StrO-MEYER. 



Glasgow, May 2. 



THE ROYAL SOCIETY SELECTED 

 CANDIDA TES. 



'T^HE following are the names and qualifications of the 

 -*■ fifteen candidates recommended by the Council of 

 the Royal Society for election this year : — 



Sir George Sydenh.\m Clarke, 



•Major, R. E., K.C.M.G., Secretary to the Colonial Defence 

 Committee and .Associate Member of the Ordnance Committee. 

 Late Secretary to the Royal Commission on Administration of 

 the Naval and .Military Services. Examiner to the Science and 

 .\rt Department and the Military Education Department. 

 Formerly (from 1871 to iSSo; Instructor in Geometrical Drawing 

 in the Royal Engineering College, Cooper's Hill. Joint Author 

 of paper " On some Figures Exhibiting the Motion of Yibrating 

 Bodies, and on a New Method for Determining the Speed of 

 Machines" (Proi. A'oy. Soc, vol. xxvi., pp. 157-163), and of a 

 paper " On the Determination of the Rate of Yibration of 

 Tuning Forks" (Phi/. Trans., iSSo, pp. I-14). Author of 



