The Emmett index. [volume] (Emmett, Idaho) 1893-1925, 1900-09-07
TtMNSCienCe
s a:esEl1VentiOn

a most remarkable case of MIGRATION
among birds is that Of the nlovers
which start from Nova Scotia and 20 10
The northern shore of South America
In practically one continuous fight
comparatively few of these birds rest Mt
Bermuda and the Barbados.
In some interesting experiments bv
English botanists, sleeping" plants. or
those which had taken their nocturnal
position, were placed in a dark room.
On "awaking" next morning they took
In the darkness their usual positions
by day, even when that position had
been made obliquely by onesided illu-
mination.
Studies of the zodlacal light made at
sea lead J. f. BABYLON, formerly of the
British navy, to remark that the air
over the Pacific Ocean appears clearer
and better adapted for celestial obser-
Walton than that lying over the Attain
tic Ocean. Honolulu is admirably stu
ated for clearness of air, and it may
become an important outpost in astron-
omy. 1t has already been selected as
one of the chief points for the study Of
the vibrations of the earth.
Water rises in an artesian well be-
cause the source of supply is porous
rock stratum which lies at a higher
level tnan the well. Although the
difference in height may not be notice
able, it is always the case that there
is a rise of ground off to one side, and
the water accumulates in some porous
layer somewhere up the slope Its
weight exerts a pressure at the point
where this stratum is tapped, and the
fluid seeks to rise there to the same
height as its source.
Capt G. E. Shelley, an English orni-
biologist who has devoted special at
tcntion to African birds, says that
Africa may fairly claim to be 1.-THE
metropolis of song-birds." 1t is the
winter home of a large proportion OF
the most attractive small birds OF
northern Europe. including the night
lngale. the swallow and many of the
warblers, and the bush resounds will
their melody. Africa also possesses q
great number of remarkable and beau
tful birds of its own.
Among the curiosties of migration
among birds is that of the bobolinll
which originally nested in the Eastern
United Statesan wintered in valleys Of
the Amazon. Now these birds have eX
tended their summer distribution ives
of the Rocky Mountains The bird
which nest in the far West do not e
south by the shortest route along tn
Rocky Mountains, but fly eastward t,
the original summer area of the spe
rles. then south by way Of Florida
Cuba and eastern Yucatan.
Before the Biological Society fl
Washington recently II. W. Odds pre-
sented the results of his studies of birt
music. Wonderful as it seems. he SAID
It is a fact that som of the birds us
the human musical scale. He showe'
by examples how the songs of certai
birds are Enthusiastically governed b.
The intervals that compose our scait
Sometimes bird musicians, like thei
human compeers, wander from the key
lie thought that there was no escap
from the conclusion that birds are sui
ject to a musical evolution which pal
allels our own.
The application of scientific irrig'
lion methods has recently given ne'
development to rice culture in soutl
western Louisiana. as explained III
bulletin of the Department of Agrlcu
lure. Rice requires wet lands but o
such lands harvesting machinery cal
not be used The difficulty has pee
met by flooding the dry prairie lah'
during the growth of the rice ana the
draining them. by system OF pump
canals and levees. when the crop
nearly ripe. On the drained lands II
possible to use reapers to harvest Il
rice: thus the cheap labor employed
foreign rice-growing countries can
met by American machinery