SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



i6i 



he did not succeed in withdrawing my attention 

 from the loch. There, however, my glass rested 

 on the white neck of a large bird, and, as I still 

 gazed upon it, the gorgeous red head flared out full 

 in the sunshine and revealed a bird of equal import- 

 ance with the shoveller, the great crested grebe. 

 Beside it swam its mate, but both birds were still 

 far out in the middle of the loch. A second 

 shoveller-drake settled on another part of the same 

 island, and a long period of inactivity amongst the 

 wildfowl followed. The picture of peace thereafter 

 displayed implied seldom disturbance of the area 

 more immediately under my gaze, and the import- 

 ance of the island to the birds was more and more 

 impressed upon me during my stay. The suspicious 

 mallards had forgotten their wildness in their 

 supposed privacy, and were resting on the land ; 

 beside them reclined the tufted duck, a far less 

 wary species, and the ever-watchful peeweep bathed 

 and cleaned himself in silence, giving only a slight 

 cry when he rose from the completion of his toilet. 

 The skulking water-hen would call, but did not 

 come forth to view, and the curlew would warn me 

 as he passed by. On the island edge were the 

 dainty teal, and in the shallows rested the shoveller, 

 whilst coots in numbers swam idly by the shore. 

 As king and queen over the diverse flock the pair 

 of great crested grebes were now swimming fear- 

 lessly before me. 



From its elongated body the great crested grebe 

 resembles a diver on the water, the long, narrow 

 bill and pure white neck are conspicuous, and the 

 occipital tufts give the appearance of ears ; occasion- 

 ally the white secondaries would be revealed when 

 one of the birds beat its wings. The bird carries 

 its neck erect and bill horizontal ; when swimming 

 quickly it keeps its neck inclined forward, but when 

 proceeding slowl}' it maintains a slight back and 

 forward movement. The bird seems to have the 

 power of altering its depth in the water, and, when 

 diving, merely inserts its head and disappears, with 

 hardly a motion on the surface. Both birds swam 

 off again towards the middle of the loch and 

 settled there, whilst the shovellers, with rapid 

 sustained flight, made for another part of the 

 loch. 



My uprising did not create such a commotion as 

 I had feared ; the tufted ducks called as they swam 

 ofl" from land, and the main body of birds departed 

 for awhile. The upper sources of the loch enclose 

 a large extent of land within their bounds and are 

 highly attractive for water-birds, whilst the enor- 

 mous reed-beds afford secure nesting-grounds. I 

 renewed my search for a shoveller's nest, which 

 proved unavailing, and after a further rest in the 

 meadows adjoining the loch, I left the companions 

 of my ramble to settle again in their normal condi- 

 tions of peace and solitude. 



46, Cumberland Street, Edinbtirgh ; ^October, 1896. 



BOOKS TO READ 



NOTICES BV JOHN' T. CARKINGTON. 



Handbook of Physiology. By W. D. Halliburton, 

 M.D., F.R.S. 866 pp. Svo, illustrated by 661 

 figures and coloured plate. (London : John Murray, 

 1896.) Price 14s. 



This carefully-produced work is the fourteenth 

 edition of Kirke's " Handbook of Physiology," 

 which has been rearranged and to a great extent 

 re-written, so much so that the book is practically 

 a new one. There are also numerous additional 

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 chapter on "Development," from an embryological 

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 learn much from the lucid explanations which 

 are so plainly set forth in its pages. 



Stcnopaic, or PIn-Hole Photography. By Fred- 

 erick William Mills, F.R.M.S., and Archibald 

 C. Ponton. Second and revised edition. 28 pp. 

 royal Svo, illustrated bj' a frontispiece and dia- 

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We have already noticed the first edition of this 

 work, which has evidently interested the public, 

 as within four months there have been issued the 

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 within the reach of most amateurs, and this 

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 proceed with ease. It can hardly be said to be 

 new, as the pin-hole camera was designed about the 

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 Bacon as far back as 1297. The frontispiece shows 

 an excellent piece of photography taken by this 

 type of camera. 



The Bichromate Salts in Photography, by various 

 authors. 2S pp. large Svo. (London: Dawbarn 

 and Ward, Limited, 1S96.) Price is. net. 



This pamphlet consists of six lectures delivered 

 before the Affiliation of Photographic Societies, and 

 are reprinted from The Photographic Journal, They 

 are — (i) " Scientific and Historical Preliminarv," by- 

 Captain W. de W. Abney, C.B., R.E.. D.C.L. ; 

 (2) " Carbon Printing,"' by Mr. J. A. Sinclair, 

 F.R.P.S. ; (3) "Collotype," by Mr. W. E. Deben- 

 ham : (4) " W'oodbury Printing," by Mr. J. D. 

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 IMr. W. T. Wilkinson. Some of our readers may 

 already have heard these lectures, but others who 

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 how practical may be their work, a little know- 

 ledge of theory, with familiarity with the work 

 already done, will greatly help them. 



