THE NATURALISTS’ COMPANION. 
60 
not (lo[)eii(LMit alone on a precarious 
siip[)lv of*cone-borne seeds tor a liv'— 
ino;. They teed inncli on the buds 
oRthe trees, and will even go to the 
shores for a meal, like the Buntings 
and Kohins. 
In mid-winter they retir*'; to the 
shelter ot the dee}), coniterions tor- 
ests. On a sunny morning, when 
the tir dra})ery flashes with crystals, 
the groii}) of forest wayfarers may 
be found in their sheltered home, 
kee})ing each other company with 
(piiet flocking calls, a male constant¬ 
ly breaking into a delightful Linnet¬ 
like song, with some peculiarly rich 
hute-notes of his own. In such 
circumstances they do not mount 
the blast-swe})t summits of the trees 
but content tnemselves with forag¬ 
ing on the lower sheltered bougljs. 
All these winter visitants, exce}3t 
Snow Buntings, are irregular and 
uncertain in their appearances here. 
Luring mild seasons -we liave them 
in .numbers, but cold and stmuny 
winters drive them to districts where 
food is more easily obtained. But 
Grosbeaks and (Crossbills are never 
in numbers unless coniferious seeds 
are abundant. 
But few Tree Sparrows winter 
liere, although they are abundant in 
November. Black Snowbirds are 
almost e(|ually rare, and it is only 
now and tlien thataBobin favors us 
with his ])resence during the dreary 
months. One or two will sometimes 
stay where the berries of the moun¬ 
tain ash (SORBUS AMERICANA) are 
}:)lenty. 
TO BE CONTINUED. 
Fioin the Auk, Vol. II, No. 3, July, 1S85. 
G. G. Whitney, Belvidere, Ills., 
has our thanks for ti co})y of his 
Collector’s Guide. 
The Earth Older than the 
Sim. 
M. Faye, a Frt'uch astronomei’, 
maintains that the earth is oldei’ 
than the sun. All of the [ilanets 
from Mercury to Neptune weru 
formed first. The sun was a nebular 
mass fiir outside their orbits. tSubse- 
(}uently it })assed over to the center 
of the })lanetary system, and collect¬ 
ed there into the grand luminary 
which we know. Uranus and Ney - 
tune were then evolved from the 
scattering fragments, having satel¬ 
lites with retrograde motion. In tlie 
})resent period life may have existed 
first in the northern regions, 
as the fauna and flora 
found there indicate. Then 
there was no arctic winters, the lo¬ 
comotion of the nebulous mass being 
such as to radiate most heat u})on 
the poles and that jiart of the earth’s 
surface so sadly neglected in our 
})resent calorific arrangement. 
A French physiologist, Dr. Beg- 
nard,is endeavoring to study marine 
animals under their natural condition 
by an ap})aratus designed by Caillet- 
et, enabling him to watch the 
creatures under any pressure up to 
that of 650 atmospheres, which cor- 
responde to that* of the sea at the 
greatest depths at which dredgings 
have been made—about four miles. 
Two microsco}3ists,Dr, Nussbaum 
and Dr. Gruber, have artifically 
multi})lied infusoria by cutting them 
in halves, each half becoming a per-’ 
fectly develojied animal. 
Bead carefully every advertise¬ 
ment in this magazine. You will 
surely find something to (*oni])lete 
your collection at a triiliiig cost. 
