December 2, 1892.] 



SCIENCE. 



313 



and extensive although its highest part is far below timber-line. 

 The expedition moved across the lake and passed Coeur d'Alene 

 City, making a short stop on the north bank of the Spokane 

 River, then northward, across a stretch of level prairie and the 

 Northern Pacific Railroad, to the foot of a group of mountains 

 whose highest peak is called Mt. Carlton. Sucker, Tesemini, and 

 Fish Lakes were visited and some ascents were made. 



In the latter part of July the camp was carried to the south- 

 western part of Lake Pend d'Oreille and located on the ranch of 

 Mr. J. Lieberg, a miner and botanical collector who was of ma- 

 terial assistance to the expedition in the excursions with pack- 

 horses made from this point to the mountains near the head- 

 waters of the North Fork of the Coeur d'Alene River and to the 

 top of Packsaddle Mountain on the eastern shore of the lake. 

 The work here was carried on under great difficulties. The 

 mountain slopes are very irregular, traversed by numerous cross 

 canons and covered with forests of spruce, fir, and pines, which 

 have been in many cases invaded by fires throwing to the ground 

 thousands of trees with the trunks lying across at every conceiv- 

 able angle, forming extensive breastworks, which on the lower 

 slopes are thickly grown with Ceanothus and higher with Menzi- 

 esia so thickly as to form a nearly solid wall. A passage through 

 such places was effected only by the liberal use of the axe — cut- 

 ting small trees too near each other to permit the pack-loads to 

 pass and logs too high to be taken by the pack animals. At 

 times an animal would attempt to pass between rocks or trees 

 narrower than the load, or loose its footing and roll to the bottom 

 of the canon below, necessitating a halt and rearrangement of 

 loads. Such occurrences wrought many accidents to apparatus, 

 material, and temper, and oftentimes made an advance of two or 

 three miles a very creditable day's work. 



Vast forest fires were raging at this time over northern Idaho, 

 adjoining parts of Washington and Montana; all of the valleys, 

 canons, and lower levels were filled with a layer of smoke so that 

 from the double crest of Packsaddle Mountain, the tops of the 

 neighboring peaks, as far as the eye could reach, appeared as 

 islands in this sea of pitchy fog. These fires are of widespread 

 prevalence and of yearly occurrence, destroying thousands of 

 acres of forest annually and threatening, in conjunction with the 

 extensive snow slides that descend from the higher slopes, an 

 almost entire destruction of the timber, forestalling, to some ex- 

 tent, the piratical timber-thieves that infest its borders. 



The final work of the season was done from the northern end 

 of the lake from near Hope, Idaho, and here at the end of the 

 season the camp was broken and the corps returned eastward by rail. 

 Briefly summarized, the results of the expedition are as fol- 

 lows: The basins of Lakes Coeur d'Alene and Pend d'Oreille and 

 of the Clearwater and Palouse rivers were explored; the botani- 

 cally unknown area in Central Idaho now being limited on the 

 south by the Snake River basin, on the west by the Snake River 

 and the basin explored. About 25,000 specimens of dried plants 

 were collected, representing nearly 1,000 species, many of them 

 undescribed forms. Valuable facts concerning general distribu- 

 tion of plants were obtained, since the area explored is one where 

 the Rocky Mountain flora meets and intermingles with the Pacific 

 coast flora in a very interesting manner,, while the opportunity 

 afforded by numerous mountain slopes for the furthering of some 

 problems of vertical distribution was not neglected. 



BIRDS THAT SING IN THE NIGHT. 



BY DR. MORRIS GIBBS, KALAMAZOO, MICH. 



We have no regular night-singers in Michigan, and, so far as I 

 am able to learn, America does not equal the Old World nightin- 

 \gale, although we have diurnal songsters which excel. The fa- 

 mous English naturalist, Gilbert White, records three species of 

 birds which sing at night in the British Isles. They are the 

 reed-sparrow, which sings among the reeds and willows, the 

 woodlark, singing in mid-air, and the nightingale, as Milton 

 describes it, — 



" In shadiest covert hid." 

 There are several species of owls which roll forth or screech 

 •out their notgs at night, and also numerous shore- birds and water- 



fowl that issue their varied calls, and, especially these latter, are to 

 be heard during the season of migration, as most birds are partial 

 to night travel spring and autumn. Then, too, our well-known 

 whip-poor-will confines his not unmusical, but monotonous jargon 

 to the hours of darkness, while the scream of the night-hawk 

 breaks on the ear between the setting and rising of the sun. But 

 these birds are not, strictly speaking, songsters, although their 

 notes undoubtedly fill their requirements as to harmony and ex- 

 pression. 



The plain, domestic little chipping sparrow sometimes favors 

 us with its simple reverberating chatter in the darkest of nights. 

 The notes hardly deserve the name of song, but heard issuing 

 from the surrounding gloom, the simple refrain commands our 

 attention from its oddity at the unusual hour. The wood-peewee 

 not rarely quavers forth its plaintive effort, sounding in the deep 

 shade like a wail from a departed spirit. This favorite singer is a 

 remarkably early riser, as he is also late in going to rest, and I 

 have sometimes thought that his musical efforts at night were the 

 result of an error on his part — an idea strengthened by the fact 

 that the notes are rarely heard more than once during the night, 

 and moreover the song is only occasional. 



Two others, which are sometimes heard to burst forth in ecstatic 

 melody, are the hermit and Swainson's thrushes. They are tran- 

 sients in my locality, but nest to the north of us. If I could de- 

 scribe the songs of birds, so that others could appreciate them as I 

 do, I would feel that a partial acknowledgment had been made 

 to the divine melody issuing from these birds' throats. 



We often hear that the best singers are the ones of plainest 

 plumages, but this is assuredly not so in all instances. If one 

 is permitted to listen to the sweet song of the scarlet tanager 

 in th(j night, it will be acknowledged that the brilliant coat of 

 the songster does not compare in point of excellence to the 

 owner's refrain. 



These birds are the only species which sing during darkness, in 

 Michigan, that I have met with, and not one of them is a regular 

 night-songster. 



NOTES AND NEWS. 



The College of Physicians of Philadelphia announces that 

 the next award of the Alvarenga Prize, being the income for one 

 year of the bequest of the late Senor Alvarenga, and amounting 

 to about $180, will be made on July 14, 1893, providing that an 

 essay deemed by the committee of award to be worthy of the prize 

 shall have been offered. Essays intended for competition may be 

 upon any subject in medicine, but cannot have been published, 

 and must be received by the secretary of the college on or before 

 May 1, 1893. The Alvarenga Prize for 1892 has been awarded to 

 Dr. R. H. L. Bibb of Saltillo, Mexico, for his essay, entitled "Ob- 

 servations on the Nature of Leprosy." 



— W. J, Waggener, Professor of Natural Philosophy, State 

 University of Colorado, Boulder, writes: "During the present 

 year, I have tried the experiment of making diagrams and pic- 

 tures for projection by the magic and the solar lantern by print- 

 ing the same with the ordinary printing press and engraved 

 blocks, on sheets of transparent gelatine. The results were grati- 

 fying even beyond the expectations which I had long entertained 

 for the process. It is safe to say that by this means excellent 

 lantern-slides from diagrams and engravings of nearly if not 

 quite all kinds can be made and multiplied as rapidly and almost 

 as cheaply as paper prints. Having assured myself of the useful- 

 ness and the novelty of the process, I wish that its use may bring 

 the unlimited benefits and pleasures of projected pictures to many 

 who cannot afford the more expensive ones now in use. Espe- 

 cially I hope that all schools may soon be able to make use of this 

 means of instruction. No patent will be asked for this process, 

 but all are invited to make free use of it." 



— Macmillan & Co. announce that the recently completed edi- 

 tion of Foster's "Text-Book of Physiology," in four parts, is to 

 be supplemented by the issue of an appendix on "The Chemical 

 Basis of the Animal Body," by A. Sheridan Lea, Sc.D., F.R.S. 

 Dr. Lea is lecturer on physiology to the University of Cambridge, 

 England. 



