7° 
THE NATURALIST AND COLLECTOR 
the young- quail and grouse. When 
first observed, if undisturbed, they 
will be found resting on their bills, or 
seeming to, after the manner of the 
old birds; however if one departs from 
the scene and later returns to the spot, 
it will be found that the mother-bird 
has withdrawn her brood to a place of 
concealment. 
Many years ago there was a strip 
of sparsely wooded low land along the 
river, and there the woodcock could 
always be found in the nesting season. 
It was rare for a year to pass when 
nests w T ere not found and some springs 
I added several sets of eggs to my 
precious cabinet. Along one side of 
this strip of mixed ash, elm, basswood 
and soft maple ran a railway. On the 
other side was the placid river fringed 
with alder and a variety of willow 
bushes. It was indeed a grand spot 
for a lover of out-door life, for one 
could wade for shells, fish from the 
logs, watch the migrating hordes of 
warblers, hunt for woodcock’s nests, 
and take any amount of interesting 
notes. But alas! the woodman’s axe 
has done its work and the city sports¬ 
man’s dog and gun have completed the 
work of destruction and desolation. 
Morris Gibbs, M. D. 
Meteorological Stations. 
T HE first meteorological station on 
a mountain summit was estab¬ 
lished in 1870 on Mount Washing¬ 
ton, at a height cf 6280 feet, and the 
station afterward in operation on Pike’s 
Peak, at an elevation of 14,134 feet, 
was for many years the highest in the 
world. Both have been discontinued. 
The only summit stations now existing 
in the United States appear to be the 
one at low level on Blue Hill, Mass, 
and that at the Lick Observatory, at 
about 4000 feet on Mount Hamilton, 
Cal., but an American institution— 
Harvard College Observatory—claims 
the highest station as an outpost at 
Arequika, Peru, Since 1893 the Are- 
quika staff has made observations on 
the summit of the volcano of El Misti, 
19,300 feet high, self-recording instru¬ 
ments—operating for a fortnight- 
being used and frequently visited 
from a lower and more habitable point. 
France has a series of important sum¬ 
mit stations—the Puy de Dome, the 
Pic du Midi, the Mont Ventoux. and 
the Aigonal—at heig-hts ranging from 
about 5,000 to 10,000 feet, with several 
summer stationa near Mont Blanc, the 
observatory of Mr. Janssen, in the 
snow of the very summit of Mont Blanc 
at 15,780 feet, being yet unused. The 
instruments on the Eiffel Tower, in 
Paris, at 980 feet, are placed more 
nearly in the conditions of free air, 
than those of any other permanent 
station at so considerable an elevation. 
Among German and Austrian stations, 
that on the Sonnblick, 10,17'0 feet high 
is the loftiest in Europe that is occu¬ 
pied throughout the year. Switzer¬ 
land has a summit station on the Santis 
at 8,200 feet. Italy has recently com¬ 
pleted one on Monte Cimone at 7100 
feet, and Great Britain has a remark¬ 
able record of hourly observations for 
ten years from its highest summit, Ben 
Nevis, at an elevation of 4400 feet. 
These elevated points -of observation 
have supplied many facts concerning 
temperature, winds, storms, etc., that 
could not have been learned without 
them. 
T HE seiche of Lake Geneva consists 
in an alternate rise and fall of 
the surface of the water from a 
few inches to about six feet, this cur¬ 
ious oscillation sometimes lasting 20 or 
25 minntes. Prof. Forel believes the 
cause is neither storms, winds nor 
pressure variation, but earth tremors. 
