22a 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XXII. No. 556 



an Oregon junco {Junco hyemalis oregonus) and a Vigor's 

 wren {Thryothorus bewiclcii spilurus) which were engaged 

 in a si3irited dispute. They made frequent passes at each 

 other as they darted about the branches of a small tree, 

 sometimes the junco and sometimes the wren being the 

 aggressor. . Presently a rufous hummingbird {Trochilus 

 rufus) appe'ared upon the scene, and dashing fearlessly at 

 the belligerents quickly put them both to flight. The 

 wren came my way and alighted on a brush pile not ten 

 feet distant, whither he was hotly pursued by the hum- 

 mer. The latter overtaking him buzzed vigorously about 

 his ears, while the wren with a fuzzled demeanor endui-ed 

 it for a moment and then sought relief in the depths of 

 the brush heap. J. M. Edson. 



New Whatcom, Wash,, Sept. 13. 



New Fire from the Lightning Stroke. 



Professor O. F. Cook, of Huntington, L. I., who has re- 

 turned from a journey in Liberia, gave the writer a most 

 interesting account of a custom of the Golas of that coun- 

 try. The Golas apparently do not use fire sticks, but pre- 

 serve fire carefully. When fire follows a stroke of light- 

 ning they hasten to secure a light from it, and putting 

 out all the fires iu the village, kindle them again from the 

 new fire. 



Lightning is very common in the Gola country, where 

 in certain seasons there are five or six thunder storms in 

 one day. 



I regard this one of the most important contributions 

 to the question of the origin of fire, and it shows an un- 

 expected attitude towards the fire from lightning. 



Walter Hough. 



U. S. National Museum, Oct. 17, 1893. 



NOTES AND NEWS. 



Mb. L. C. Woostee, who for a year past has been in 

 charge of the Kansas Educational Exhibit at the World's 

 Exposition, has charge of the Science Department in the 

 State Normal School of North Dakota at Mayville. Mr. 

 Wooster has occupied a similar position in the Normal 

 School at Whitewater, Wis. 



— Mr. L. B. Avery, who for four years past has been at 

 the head of the Science Department of the State Normal 

 School at St. Cloud, Minn., has accepted the Presidency 

 of the North Dakota State Normal at Mayville. 



— The College of Physicians of Philadelphia announces 

 that the next award of the Alvarenga Prize, being the in- 

 come for one year of the bequest of the late Senor Alva- 

 renga, and amounting to about one hundred and eighty 

 dollars, will be made on July 14, 1894, provided 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 uj)on any subject in medicine, but 

 cannot have been published, and must be received by the 

 Secretary of the College on or before May 1, 1894. Each 

 essay must be sent without signature, but must be plainly 

 marked with a motto and be accompanied by a sealed en- 

 velope having on its outside the motto of the paper and 

 within it the name and address of the author. It is a 

 condition of competition that the successful essay or a 

 copy of it shall remain in possession of the College; other 

 essays will be returned upon application within three 

 months after the award. 



— Two articles in the November number of the Atlantic 

 Monthly wiU be of particular interest to teachers. These 

 are Horace E. Scudder's " School Libraries," and Ernest 

 Hart's "Spectacled Schoolboys." 



BOOK-EEVIEWS. 



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