August 5, 1892,] 



SCIENCE. 



79 



(the sign used for this day is the bee sting), there is evidently 

 a connection between yniix, ik, caban, and cauac, whose 

 components are all more or less associated with, or composed 

 of, the bee and honey signs. 



When I speak of the components of a glyph it may be 

 that an example will make this more readily understood. 

 Take the day-sign manik. We have in this glyph, as repre- 

 sented by Landa, four components; the first is the glyph 

 not unlike a carpenter's T-square which has the phonetic 

 value of ma; near it to the right are three short lines which 

 = n; and below to the left is the ich or ix glyph, which 

 gives us, together with the others, "Ma-n-ich" — an excel- 

 lent suggestion of Manik. The day-sign, chicchan, was 

 represented by a pot, the base of which was crossed by 

 hatchings giving the phonetic value x; the white space at 

 the end of this divides the hatching from a black line, to 

 which tooth-like processes are attached, giving the phonetic 

 value of "hdch." We now have a; or s7i, which, joined to 

 hd. =xd; placing ch before this we obtain " chxa, '' — the 

 suggestion of "Chi-xa" or ''chicchan." The hieroglyph of 

 the day-sign Ahau contains as components the a glyph, 

 from which perpendicular lines mount to the top of the circle 

 enclosing them. The straight lines=ft,«, and the two 

 small round circles on either side of the ha^oo, giving us 

 " Ah-ha-oo " or "Ahau." The phonetic components of 

 Landa's B are simply expressed by conventionalized foot- 

 marks =6e in Maya; and when Landa asked for bay (the 

 way he pronounced it in Spanish), the Maya scribe jotted 

 down representations of footprints which recalled to him the 

 sound of the name of the thing represented — in other words 

 be — pronounced ba in Maya. 



I believe the standai'd of phoneticism in these old Maya 

 glyphs to be about the same as the more advanced system of 

 writing used by the Nahuatalacs, and described by M. 

 Aubin. The phonetics of some of the Maya day signs are 

 quite ob.scure, others quite clear and easily interpreted. 



The scientific world is already coznizant of the painstaking 

 labors of Professor Cyrus W. Thomas of the Bureau of Eth- 

 nology, and his researches upon the Codex Troano are of ines- 

 timable value. I have recently had the pleasure of working 

 in conjunction with Dr. Thomas as a member of the staff of 

 the above-named institution, and I am convinced that his 

 alphabet is based upon a solid foundation. Although we 

 are both working by independent methods of research, like 

 results have been obtained in several cases by repealed tests. 

 His recent publication in Science adds other similarities of 

 interpretation; surely this correspondence of results cannot 

 be the result of accident. Dr. D. G. Briuton, Professor of 

 American linguistics and archseology in the University of 

 Pennsylvania, in a recent letter, says, " The correspondence 

 between your interpretations and that of Professor Thomas 

 in certain cases is strong prima facie evidence that both 

 methods are based on correct principles." I have but to re- 

 peat Dr. Thomas's words "that this agreement in our con- 

 clusions . . . serves to strengthen both in the convic- 

 tion that we are making genuine progress in the solution of 

 this difficult problem." 



" The Optics of Photography and Photographic Lenses," by J. 

 Traill Taylor, editor of the British Journal of Photography, is a 

 useful little volume for those who desire to master the optical 

 principles involved in the construction of phonographic lenses. 

 The work is also of value to the practical photographer, as it gives 

 directions for the proper use of diaphragms, for the testing of 

 lenses, etc. 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 



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The editor will be glad to publish any queries coyisonant with the character 

 of the journal. 



The English Sparrow and Other Birds. 



I HAVE often read accounts of the English sparrow driving out 

 our native birds, and for several years have been watching closely 

 to see what the truth is; and from my observations I must con- 

 clude that many persons write facts from imagination. 



That matters may be better understood, I may state that for 

 twenty-three years I have lived on Ohio Street, the principal 

 business street of the city, between 9th and 10th streets; this 

 being near the centre of the city, the business buildings extending 

 on Ohio Street half-way between 7th and 8th streets, and the 

 residences having considerable ground around them, with many 

 shade trees from fifteen to twenty-five years old. 



The English sparrow came to Sedalia about twelve years ago, 

 and for a long time did not get away from the vicinity of the 

 business centre. Some five or six years ago, during a severe win- 

 ter, I saw them one time only as far out on Ohio Street as Broad- 

 way or 8th Street, to which point they had come hunting some- 

 thing to eat on the street. The following summer they were 

 frequently seen on the block between Broadway and 9th Street, 

 but came into my yard only a few times. The following sum- 

 mer they were frequently in the yard, but made no nests. Since 

 that time they have built their nests in the yard, and have fed in 

 large numbers in the chicken-yard. 



The trees are now large enough and dense enough to furnish 

 protection for birds, and of late years more kinds are found in. 

 the city than formerly. The blue jay stays the year round, and 

 during the winter as well as summer the red bird and some other 

 kinds are frequently seen. In summer the tree black bird, the 

 robin, the cat bird, the rain crow, or cuckoo, and the wren are 

 abundant, and make their nests. In addition to these, the brown 

 thrush, the mocking bii'd, the red-head woodpecker, the red- head 

 flicker, the sap-sucker, and other kinds are often seen, some of 

 them daily. 



Now, which of all these birds has been atfected by the sparrow ? 

 Not a single one of them. They are all as abundant as they were 

 five years ago, or at any time in the past, and much more so than 

 they were ten to twenty years ago, before there were as many 

 trees as there are now. 



In addition to the birds mentioned, I might name three others. 

 The town martin has always been in the city in great numbers, 

 making their nests in all kinds of cavities around the houses in 

 the business part of the city. These same places were taken pos- 

 session of by the sparrows; and they being here the year round, 

 and making nests even in the winter time, the places belonging: 

 to the martins were appropriated before their arrival, and when 

 they came they had to fight to recover them. I was much inter- 

 ested in watching one of these fights. Across the roof of a one- 

 story building next to my ofHce, and in the top of the adjoining 

 building, a martin had found a hole, and had appropriated a 

 place within for a nest. A sparrow had also afterwards done the 

 same, and was found in possession when the martin arrived from 

 its winter pilgrimage. The latter at once gave fight, and time 

 and again during their fight they would fall to the roof below, 

 and were so intently engaged that more than once I had my hand 

 almost upon them before they would let go of each other. The 

 martin won the fight, and the sparrow gave up the nest it had 

 taken. 



As I now sit in my yard the martins are circling overhead by 

 the hundred, they staying during the day in the business part of the 

 city. It is very evident that the sparrows have not run the mar- 

 tins out, although they are direct competitors for the same nest- 

 ing places. 



Years ago the chippee always made its nests in my yard, but 

 has not done so for six years, except in one case, and that nest 

 was abandoned without being completed. I do not know the 

 reason; I imagine the Englich sparrow domineers over the little 



