JuxT 13, 190G.] 



SCIENCE. 



51 



Providence, R. I., deduced from the time re- 

 quired to pass across tlie moon's disk, a speed 

 of about 130 miles per hour for some birds. 

 Our results agree closely with his, although 

 the methods are very different. He had to 

 assume the size of the birds in order to cora- 

 pute their distances and speeds, while with 

 two telescopes the results are independent of 

 any assumption as to size or distance. On 

 the other hand, it is possible to secure many 

 more observations with a single instrument 

 than with two, so there are disadvantages in 

 both methods. 



With three telescopes it would be possible to 

 measure both the heights and speeds of birds 

 as they fly across the moon. Two observers 

 about ten feet apart in an east-and-west line 

 could obtain data for the heights, while the 

 speeds could be determined by a third observer 

 situated a hundred yards north or south of 

 the others. In short, given a clear night, 

 the moon about full, plenty of birds in flight, 

 and a battery of telescopes, the conditions are 

 perfect for an easy solution of the problem 

 of the heights and speeds of migrating birds; 

 but it will be seldom that all of these require- 

 ments are fulfilled at the same time. 



Joel Stebbins, 

 Edward A. Fath. 

 Univeesity of Illinois Observatory, 

 May, 1906. 



of a twenty-six-inch bed of workable coal, and 

 five thousand for a thirty-six-inch bed, it is 

 only within the past few days that any one 

 has filed with the governor legitimate claims 

 for the bounty. The bed of coal recently ex- 

 posed, near Peru, Neb., extending some forty- 

 two feet along the sides of a tunnel back from 

 the banks of Honey Creek, seems to be fully 

 thirty-four inches in thickness, as measured 

 by the writer. This is known as the Honey 

 Creek or Peru coal mine. The seam is level 

 and readily accessible; the mine, being ten 

 feet above the creek, is easily drained and 

 transportation is at hand. While the extent 

 of the newly discovered bed is a matter of 

 conjecture, the farms near and adjacent to the 

 Peru coal bed are likewise underlaid probably 

 with the same seam of coal, judging from 

 scattered surface indications. It is reason- 

 ably certain that a resource of local interest 

 will be developed, and for a time at least 

 Nebraska may lose its distinction ' the state 

 without a mine.' As to the quality of the coal, 

 whether good or bad, matters little, for any 

 coal is good in a state supposed to be destitute 

 of natural fuel. Analyses of the Honey 

 Creek coal made by Mr. L. J. Pepperberg, a 

 fellow in the department of geology in the 

 University of Nebraska are given in the table. 

 It must be remembered that the following 

 analyses are made from samples which are 



A WORKABLE BED OP COAL IN NEBRASKA. 



Although for years past the state legisla- 

 ture of Nebraska has offered a bounty amount- 

 ing to four thousand dollars for the discovery 



Nights of September 23 and 24, 1896,' Science, 

 N. S., 6, 409, September 10, 1897. 



close to the surface, badly weathered, there- 

 fore representing the worst rather than the 

 best of this coal. 



By the time the tunnel has been extended 

 one hundred feet the overlying shales will be 

 about fifty feet in thickness and the coal will 

 presumably be of better quality. Across the 



