26 7 lie West American Scientist. 



portation, or the comparative amounts of sediment carried as the 

 velocity of the stream changes. 



These are only general suggestions, rather than directions 

 which you are to follow to the letter. As you progress with your 

 work you will find new questions arising, depending much upon 

 your locality, and you will see that the peaceful, laughing stream 

 which has been flowing by you almost unheeded in the past can 

 propound deeper riddles than the Sphinx. 



W, R. Lighton. 



NECROLOGY. 



James Carson Brevoort, in whose honor the beautiful Califor- 

 nian genus Brevoortia was named, of Brooklyn, N. Y., died De- 

 cember 7, 1887, in his seventieth year. He was a member of the 

 New York Academy of Sciences, and a generous patron of liter- 

 ature, science and art. He endeavored to make his knowledge 

 of practical use to the community in which he lived. 



James Reid, a prominent florist, died on November 17, 1887. 

 *He was among the foremost in elevating floriculture to the high 

 position it now occupies in public estimation'. — Thomas Mee/ian. 



ORIGINAL BIRD NOTES. 



Alfred Hills, Marston, England, found a partridge nest on 

 January 23, 1886, with a fresh eg^ in it. That night a snow- 

 storm came and filled the nest, which the bird then forsook. 



G. D. Story. 



A RAVEN once made an unexpected dive from a tree upon a 

 big drake that was swimming. The drake was scalped and 

 killed at the same time. London Field. 



A GOLDEN-WINGED WOODPECKER was knowu to lay seventy- 

 one eggs in a single season at Dighton, Massachusetts. An or- 

 nithologist kept robbing its nest of all but a single ^'g'^, and the 

 poor bird kept laying in order to raise a brood. G. D. Story. 



The Screech Owl. This little owl is found in nearly all 

 parts of the United States, but is much more common in northern 

 than in southern sections. The screech owl is by no means rare 

 in Vermont, and many a Green Mountain lad, as he has been 

 passing through a wood on a dark night, has felt his hair rise 

 and his heart leap, and directly after found himself flying as upon 

 wings of the wind at the terrific scream of this bird, perched on a 

 tree just over his head. Their nest is made of grass and feathers 

 and is placed at the bottom of a hollow tree or stub, often not 

 more than six or eight feet from the ground. The eggs are 

 white, of a globular form, and usually four or five in number. It 

 is sometimes called the mottled owl. " Vermont.''' 



