Oct. 5, 1888. 



SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



375 



be no doubt. Another circumstance which appears usually 

 to assist the general discrepancy between eggs and brood is 

 I the delicate texture of the shell of the odd egg, which often 

 gets broken in the nest. I found that by taking two eggs of 

 equal weight from the same clutch, i.e., the odd egg and one 

 other, that the shell of the odd egg was considerably the 

 lighter ; again, in a set of four, with a most conspicuous odd 

 egg, which was the largest of the set, the shells when care- 

 fully blown were all of equal weight — namely, four grains each. 

 The following gives the sizeand weight of each egg : '90 x 70, 

 weight 60 grains; '86 x -66, 54 grains; '85 x '65, 51 grains; 

 ■81 x -6i, 45 grains. These figures show how much more 

 delicate the shell of the odd egg is ; moreover, when drill- 

 ing the holes for blowing I found the shell of the odd egg to 

 cut so much more easily. I am informed by those who are 

 well up in rearing poultry that the eggs of the turkey, which 

 are sometimes laid with the colouring matter collected into 

 hard excrescences, making the shell quite rough, are of no use 

 for incubation, as they always get broken before the time for 

 hatching arrives. Some turkeys' eggs I have now before me 

 show the peculiarity referred to, but in a greater degree than 

 in the odd egg of the sparrow. 



Having for the past three years paid considerable attention 

 to the habits of the sparrow, I yet fail to understand why it 

 should vary the number of its eggs to produce about the same 

 number of young birds, and why the eggs when more fertile 

 should be more highly coloured is to me an enigma. I occa- 

 sionally heard of broods of five young birds, all strong and 

 healthy, being found, and one brood of six was reported, 

 although I must say that personally I have not seen more than 

 four good flyers from one nest, but I have seen several nests 

 in which the brood was represented by one, and sometimes 

 two young birds only. 



Want of careful observation of the habits of this bird is, I 

 have no doubt, the reason of its receiving so much persecu- 

 tion. There can be no doubt that it does some harm, but I 

 have every reason to believe that it does some good which 

 more than counterbalances. So far as my personal observa- 

 tion goes, it is the best fly-catcher and caterpillar-eater we 

 have, as it stops with us all the year, other fly-catchers paying 

 us a visit only for the pick of our entomological production. 



I cannot close these notes on the sparrow without giving 

 an instance of their slow productiveness. A pair of sparrows 

 built their nest in a hole in a tree about ten feet from the 

 ground ; three eggs were laid, and two young birds hatched ; 

 shortly after these had flown they repaired the nest and again 

 laid three eggs, but this time only one young bird was reared. 

 They again laid three more eggs, and no August 4th there 

 were two more young birds ready to fly. Five young 

 birds for three broods are most certainly not many, and I 

 believe that this is not at all an uncommon occurrence. The 

 foregoing came under my personal observation, so I can vouch 

 for its accuracy. 



The average weight of fresh-laid eggs is 46 grs., but I find 

 those taken on rich clay soil, where there is plenty of water, 

 to give a better average than those taken on poor, dry chalk 

 soil ; this, I presume, is owing to the birds getting a better 

 supply of insects at the period of nidification. 



Royston, 1888. Joseph P. Nunn. 



ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



T. Gaine. — We have heard of a similar occurrence 

 before. Probably, although you thought you had made 

 . everything secure, you left a portion of the paper without 

 any weight upon it, and the newt was able to push it up 

 and escape. 



TECHNICAL EDUCATION NOTES. 



University Extension in London. — We understand that 

 the Society for the Promotion of University Teaching in 

 London have made arrangements for seventeen lecturers to 

 deliver twenty-nine different courses, many of which are 

 repeated at more than one centre during the coming season. 



Eight are devoted to Literature, five to History, two to Social 

 Science, two to Art, and twelve to Natural Science, all of 

 them being full courses of ten or twelve lectures, with the 

 single exception of one on Spectrum Analysis, which is to 

 be given at Dulwich. Mr. Churton Collins supplies five of 

 the literary courses, others being given by Mr. J. A. Hobson, 

 Mr. E. J. Macmullan, and Mr. P. H. Wicksteed. Historical 

 subjects are discussed by Mr. T. H. Attwater, Mr. S. R. 

 Gardiner, and Mr. E. L. S. Horsburgh. Mr. Ernest Radford 

 lectures on Art and on Architecture, Mr. G. Armitage Smith on 

 Political Economy, and Mr. P. H. Wicksteed on Sociology. 

 Of the scientific courses, Chemistry is taken by Professor V. 

 B. Lewes, Astronomy by Mr. J. D. McClure and Mr. E. J. C. 

 Morton, Physiology by Mr. Walter Pye and Mr. D. W. Sam- 

 ways, Electricity by Mr. W. Lant Carpenter, Physical 

 Geography by Mr. A. W. Clayden, and Geology by Professor 

 H. G. Seeley. 



The Gresham Lectures.— The lectures founded by Sir 

 Thomas Gresham will be read to the public on the following 

 days in English, at 6 o'clock each evening, in the theatre of 

 Gresham College, Basinghall Street, in the following order : — 

 Physic (Dr. E. Symes Thompson ), October 2, 3, 4, and 5 ; 

 Rhetoric (Mr. J. E. Nixon), October 9, 10, 11, and 12; As- 

 tronomy (Rev. E. Ledger), October 16, 17, 18, and 19; Law 

 (Dr. J. T. Abdy), October 30 and 31, and November 1 and 2 ; 

 Geometry (the Dean of Exeter), November 5, 6, 7, and 8 ; 

 and Music (Dr. Henry Wylde), November 13, 14, 15, and 16. 

 In consequence of the death of Dr. Burgon, the Dean of 

 Chichester, no lectures on Divinity will be delivered this 

 term. 



The Forests of Europe. — The French Ministry of 

 Agriculture has recently issued some interesting statistics re- 

 specting the distribution of forest in Europe. The total area of 

 Europe laid out in forest — exclusive of Turkey, Bulgaria, 

 Bosnia, and Herzegovina, omitted in the official statement — ■ 

 is set down at 286,989 million hectares, or about 708,862 

 million acres ; that is, about 187 per cent, of the total area of 

 Europe is forest land. In proportion to its total area Great 

 Britain and Ireland has of all countries in Europe the least 

 extent of forest, amounting to only 4 per cent, of its surface, 

 and, in proportion to the number of its inhabitants, enjoys by 

 far the least allotment of forest, amounting to only 0-036 

 hectare, or 0-089 acres — i.e., considerably less than the tenth 

 of an acre to each inhabitant. The country in Europe next 

 lowest in the forest scale is Denmark, with 4'8 per cent, of 

 forest land, or 0-09 hectare to each inhabitant. That is to say, 

 in Denmark there is an average of between two or three times- 

 the extent of forest land to each inhabitant that there is in 

 Great Britain and Ireland. The third of the countries of 

 Europe in the ascending forest scale is Portugal, with 5 per 

 cent, of forest land and o-n hectare to each inhabitant — i.e., 

 an average of three times the amount of forest land to each 

 inhabitant of Portugal that is allowed to each inhabitant of 

 the United Kingdom. Holland has 7 per cent, of forest land 

 and 0-05 hectare to each inhabitant, or about one and a-half 

 times as much as to each inhabitant of the United Kingdom. 

 The country in Europe possessing most forest is Russia in 

 Europe, with 200,000 million hectares — i.e., 37 per cent of its-. 

 whole area and 3-37 hectares to each inhabitant — that is, each 

 inhabitant of Russia in Europe has an average of nearly 94 

 times the extent of forest land allotted to each inhabitant of 

 the United Kingdom. In its percentage of forest land and 

 the amount of forest to each inhabitant, Sweden, however 

 stands still higher. With 17,569 million hectares of forest 

 Sweden has 39 per cent, of its land in forest, and so 3-84, 

 hectares of forest to each of its inhabitants. Norway, with 

 24 per cent of its area in forest, allows each of its inhabitants 

 an average of 4-32 hectares forest, or 120 times as much as is 

 allowed to each inhabitant of the United Kingdom. Hungary 

 has 29 per cent, of its area in forest, or 0-58 hectares of forest 

 to each inhabitant. France possesses 9,888 million hectares 

 of forest, or 177 per cent, of its total area, and so allowing 

 0-25 hectares of forest to each of its inhabitants — nearly seven 

 times as much as is allotted to each inhabitant of the United 

 Kingdom. 



