6o 



SCIENTIFIC NE^VS. 



[Jan. 20, iS 



British Birds," mentions two killed at St. Kilda, one in 

 the winter of 1822 (which may perchance be the one 

 seen by Dr. Fleming in 1S21) and another in 1829. Dr. 

 Baikie and Mr. Robert Heddle write : — " A Great Auk 

 was seen off Fair Island, Orkney, in the month of June, 

 1798, and a pair bred in Papa Westra, Orkney, for 

 several years, where they were popularly known as the 

 ' King and Queen of the Auks.' Shortly after Mr. 

 Bullock's visit to Orkney in 18 13, one of these birds was 

 shot and sent to him, and since that time the Great Auk has 

 apparently quite torsaken our islands." In 1834 one 

 was found off the coast of Waterford, and the last survi- 

 vor appears to havs been taken in the Island of Eldey, in 

 1844, since when neither naturalists who have gone in 

 quest of them, nor Arctic explorers have seen any 

 signs of their existence. Possessing stunted wings, which 

 practically incapacitated it from flight, and with short 

 legs, which were but of little use for walking, the Great 

 Auk's means of locomotion on land appear to have been 

 restricted in the extreme, but it was an excellent 

 swimmer and a most expert diver, living, according to 

 Fabricius, entirely on fish, although other authors assert 

 that sea plants also formed part of its diet. Like its 

 lesser kinsman the penguin, it seems to have dispensed 

 with the formality of a nest, and to have laid its egg — 

 for it seldom laid more than one — on the bare rock, 

 pois ng it, according to some writers, with marvellous 

 exactitude on some jutting ledge, at what seemed an 

 inaccessible height for a bird whose capacity for flight 

 was so limited. Morris attempts to explain this apparent 

 anomaly by suggesting that it raised itself to its breeding 

 place by the aid of the waves which dash unceasingly 

 against the desolate shores which these birds frequented, 

 a supposition which seems more ingenious than probable. 

 The egg is yellowish white, streaked and spotted, princi- 

 pally about the larger end, with black, and even many 

 years ago was accounted " worth its weight in gold." 

 Morris gives a minute description of the " Great Auk, 

 Gair Fowl, or Northern Penguin," which we feel can not 

 be improved upon ; we therefore give it in its entirety : — 

 " Male : length, 2 feet 8 or 10 inches, Montagu says as 

 much as 3 feet ; the bill, which is flattened at the sides 

 and marked with several transverse grooves, is very 

 strong and black in colour, the grooves white; between it 

 and the eye, and round the latter, is a large oval patch of 

 white (as shown in our illustration); the base of the bill is 

 covered with short velvet-like feathers. Iris, reddish- 

 brown ; head, on the crown and sides, nape, chin, and 

 throat, deep glossy black ; the two latter and the sides 

 of the head are white in autumn and winter. Breast, 

 white; back, glossy black. Greater and lesfer wing 

 coverts, black ; primaries, black, the longest quill feather 

 is only 4 inches in length ; secondaries, black, their tips 

 white, forming a boundary to the wing ; tertiaries, black ; 

 greater and lesser wing under coverts, white. Tail, 

 black ; upper tail coverts, black ; under tail coverts, 

 white. The legs, short and placed far back, are, at the 

 toes and claws, blackish ; webs, blackish brown. Seiby 

 says that this species undergoes a double moult, and Dr. 

 Fleming noticed that the change took place in a few days. 

 In young birds it would appear that the bdl becomes 

 only gradually grooved, and the neck is mottled with 

 black and white." 



A Sporting Fish. — In the eleventh number of the 

 Edinburgh Philosophical Journal an interesting account 

 is given of the Jaculator fish of Java by a gentleman 



who had an opportunity of examining some specimens 

 of it in the possession of a chief. The fish were placed 

 in a small circular pond, from the centre of which pro- 

 jected a pole upwards of 2 ft. in height ; at the top of 

 this pole were inserted several small pieces of wood, 

 sharpened at the points, on each of which were transfixed 

 some insects of the beetle tribe. When all had become 

 quiet, after the beetles had been secured, the fish, which 

 had retired during the operation, came out of their 

 hiding-places, and began to circle round the pond. One 

 of them at length rose to the surface of the water, and, 

 after steadily fixing its eyes for some time upon an 

 insect, discharged from its mouth a small quantity of 

 water with such force and precision of aim as to drive 

 the beetle off the twig into the water, where it was 

 instantly swallowed. After this another fish came and 

 performed a similar feat, and was followed by the rest 

 till all the insects had been devoured. The writer 

 observed that if a fish failed in bringing down its prey at 

 the first shot it swam round the pond until it again came 

 opposite the same object and fired again. In one 

 instance, he remarked, one of the fish returned three 

 times to the attack before it secured its prey; but in 

 general they seemed to be very expert shots, bringing 

 down the game at the very first discharge. The Jacu- 

 lator, in a state of nature, frequents the banks of rivers 

 in search of food. When it spies a fly settling on the 

 plants that grow in shallow water it swims on to the 

 distance of from 5 ft. to 6 fr. off them, and then, with 

 surprising dexterity, ejects from its tubular mouth a single 

 drop of fluid, which rarely fails to strike the fly into the 

 water, where it is immediately swallowed. 



Ants. — Sir John Lubbock recentlj' delivered a lecture 

 on " Ants " in Essex Hall, Essex-street, Strand. The 

 lecturer said that ants were of much interest to the 

 human race, because they reproduced in so many 

 respects the conditions of our own lives. When we 

 considered their habits, their social organization, their 

 large communities, their roadways, their possession of 

 domestic servants, and sometimes, he was sorry to say, 

 of slaves, it must be admitted that they had a very fair 

 claim to rank in intelligence next to man. It was 

 difficult to determine whether ants could be said to have 

 any actual affection for one another. He related a 

 number of experiments he had conducted to ascertain 

 the truth in this respect. An ant which had injured her 

 legs was fed and was carried by her companions. 

 Another ant that had injured her antennae in coming 

 out of chrysalis, being found by an ant of another nest, 

 was attacked, and was with difficulty rescued by the 

 lecturer, but being afterwards found by an ant belonging 

 to the same nest, this ant, after carefully examining her 

 unfortunate companion, took her up in her mouth and 

 carried her back to her nest. Nobody had ever yet 

 seen a quarrel between two ants of the same nest. In 

 one of his nests he had a number of workers which lived 

 to the age of seven years. They gradually diminished 

 in number, and at last only two remained. These two 

 lived together for two years, and then died within a 

 week of one another. There appeared to be no external 

 cause for this, and he was disposed to think that the 

 survivor felt the shock of her companion's death. Sir 

 John said that he had now a queen-ant which had lived 

 in one of his nests ever since 1874. She was even then 

 full-grown, and must, therefore, now be nearly fourteen 

 years old. She was, he believed, the oldest insect on 



