Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 2 (1898).djvu/407

Rh miles east of the bay. Knots and Turnstones were reported during July and August, and the Ring Plover was occasionally seen. The advance guard of Burgomasters and Kittiwakes arrived early in May, and in June, 1894, a solitary Snow Goose passed overhead, an occupied nest of the species being discovered in the Tucktoo Valley, beyond Bowdoin Glacier.

have received the Report of the Marlborough College Natural History Society for the year ending 1897. This Society shows every mark of vitality. Its president is Mr. E. Meyrick, the well-known lepidopterist; it has been found necessary to limit the number of school members to three hundred; while its financial position is shown by a credit balance of about £100. Among interesting facts to be found in these pages is a census of the Rooks' nests in College Grounds, compiled by Mr. Meyrick:—"The nests were counted on April 6th, when there were found to be 13 in the trees facing B House, 153 in the Wilderness, 8 on the Mound, and 1 in a willow lower down the garden; total, 175, being an increase of 7 on last year, but not yet quite up to the record of 1894. During the last two years there have been (each year) two nests in the elms in Mr. Morrison's meadow at the top of Kingsbury Hill; this attempt at forming a new colony is probably due to stragglers from the College settlement."

Another note relates to a climbing habit in Frogs:—"We have made a curious discovery this summer in our garden. Some Frogs have taken up their abode for the last month in two deserted Blackbirds' nests, built in round thick box bushes about two feet from the ground. One Frog is generally to be seen alone sometimes on or near the edge of the nest, sometimes comfortably ensconced in the middle, only his head peeping out. In the other nest there are now always two Frogs."—(E.A.M.; July 20th).

An Anthropological Record, giving statistics of weight and measurement of all boys passing through the College, is a very valuable feature of these Reports. We read that in 1897 "some modifications have been introduced into our practice. The dynamometer test has been discontinued; the results attained by it were very fluctuating, being probably largely influenced by the condition of the subject on the particular day, and it has also been found difficult to get boys to pull to their full capacity, the action being unfamiliar. The chest measurement hitherto taken seems also unsatisfactory, as it is difficult to determine when the chest is really normally expanded, neither too full nor too empty. In place of these we have now substituted two chest measurements; one of the chest expanded to its fullest capacity, and one taken when it is emptied as far as possible. The mean of these two measurements may be regarded in practice as indicating the normal girth, and the difference between them gives a measure of the total capacity of expansion, and may be taken as an index of the efficiency of respiration."