season.

lation than the Woodcock. Previous, however, to my advancing reasons for such an opinion, I beg to communicate the account which is given of the woodcock in Bewick's History of Birds. —“ It is said to inhabit every climate; it leaves the countries bordering upon the Baltic in the autumn and setting-in of winter, on its route to this country. They do not come in large flocks, but keep dropping in upon our shores singly, or sometimes in pairs, from the beginning of October till December. They must have the instinctive precaution of landing only in the night, or in dark misty weather, for they are never seen to arrive; but are frequently discovered the next morning in any ditch which affords shelter, the more particularly after extra ordinary fatigue occasioned by the adverse gales, which they often have to encounter in their aerial voyage. They do not remain near the shore, to take their rest, longer than a day, but common, ly find themselves sufficiently recruited in that time, to proceed inland, to the very same haunts which they left the preceding -Two cases are advanced in support of this last assertion; the first is, that, in the winter of 1797, the gamekeeper of E. Pleydell, Esq. of Whitcombe, in Dorsetshire, brought him a woodcock, which he had caught in a net set for rabbits, alive and unhurt. Mr Pleydell marked the date upon a small piece of thin brass, bent it round the woodcock's leg, and let it fly. In December in the next year, Mr Pleydell shot this bird, with the brass about its leg, in the very same wood where it had been first caught by the gamekeeper. The second case is that of a white woodcock having been seen three successive winters in Penrice Wood, near Penrice Castle, Glamorganshire. It was repeatedly flushed and shot at during that time, in the very same place where it was first discovered. At last, it was found dead, with several others, which had perished by the severity of the weather in the winter of 1793.In further proof of the woodcock returning to its former haunt, I have to state, that one was seen in Ireland some years ago, of a slate-colour, on a particular estate, three successive winters; its existence, however, was not prolonged from a succession of unfortunate shots, as mentioned of the bird in Wales, but from a very different cause. The proprietor of the spot which this woodcock had chosen for its retreat, was a sportsman, and meet

ing with it early in the first season, was surprised with its pe culiar colour, and aware of this species of bird being attached, like the swallow, to particular places, was desirous of preserving it, which wish he had made known in the neighbourhood; but at last, a stranger from a distance, who had not heard of the wished-for exception, approaching the bird's retreat, effected its destruction. The inhabitants on the east coast of England are decidedly of opinion, that the woodcocks come from the eastward; while those on the west coast are equally positive these birds come from the westward. This is a point it may be difficult to determine; certain it is, however, that whencesover they may come, their condition on their appearance in the autumn, is invariably such as strongly to indicate that the countries they left are remotely situated. Previous to the arrival of the woodcocks in Cornwall, they are met with in numbers in the Scilly Islands, which are situated seventeen miles to the westward of the Lizard; and where, at the commencement of the season, they are in such an exhausted state as to be easily caught. They so regulate their flight, that their approach to those islands has never been observed,-their descent must, therefore, occur by night; their stay at the Scilly Islands does not exceed the day, and on the approach of night, they again take flight to the eastward. There is a light-house among the Long-Ships, a reef of rocks so called, situated about two miles to the westward of the Land's-End; and it frequently happens in the month of October, that woodcocks are found dead under the strong glass that protects the light: the birds during the night having been attracted by the brilliant glare, and flying against the glass with great force, are instantly killed; and as this circumstance occurs on the west side of the light-house, it is advanced among other reasons in support of the assertion, that the woodcocks come from the westward. It is not, however, the particular direction of the woodcock on its approach to our shores; but the great distance of its flight which creates astonishment, especially in those who are familiar with this bird, from its efforts when disturbed, appearing so ill suited to a long or protracted flight : the surprise may still be heightened by the circumstance, that amidst the great number of birds of the migratory class, which have, in a truly exhausted state, taken refuge on the masts, rigging, and

decks of ships at sea, I have not been able to trace a single instance, either of a woodcock having recourse to such an aid, or that it has been enumerated among the thousands of birds that have from time to time been found drowned on the shores of the ocean. Further, the period for the appearance of the woodcock in England, does not seem to be retarded by either a long series of calm, moderate, or tempestuous weather, or from the long prevalence of the wind in any particular quarter; hence it may be inferred, that the woodcock is favoured by nature with an instinct peculiar to its species; which, during its transit from one country to another, however distant, insures its safety. This may give some weight to the hypothesis of the existence of currents in the higher regions of the atmosphere, which set in the direction convenient for the transport of the woodcock, both in its approach and retiring from this island; and that the extraordinary instinct to which I have alluded, enables this bird in the outset to soar to such a height as to avail itself of their influence; which being gained, it is conveyed away with a rapidity of which we may form some idea, when the fact is stated, of balloons being propelled or hurried along from forty, to a rate exceeding eighty miles an hour. The great accuracy with which the woodcock is enabled to drop on an island, (however small), in the ocean, at a great distance from the main land, and in the darkest night, may proceed from the marked change in the air over the land which the bird feels even at an immense altitude."

IV. GENERAL SCIENCE,

31. Chinese Year.-Mr Davis has shewn that the Chinese year is a lunar year, consisting of 12 months of 29 and 30 days alternately, with the triennial intercalation of a thirteenth month, or rather an intercalation seven times in nineteen years, to make the year correspond more nearly with the sun's course. It has not been ascertained why they fix upon the 15th degree of Aquarius as a rule for regulating the commencement of their lunar year; but they have an annual festival about the recurrence of this period, which resembles the deification of the bull Apis. See Phil. Trans. 1823, p. 94.

32. Introduction of Vaccination into China.-Mr Davis, in the paper just quoted (p. 92), mentions the following curious VOL. X. NO. 19. JAN. 1824.

fact. When Dr Pearson made the Chinese his invaluable present of the vaccine inoculation, it was accompanied by a small pamphlet, in Chinese, containing a few necessary directions as to the use of the virus, and stating the discovery to have been English. A purified edition of this little book was very soon after published, in which not one word was retained as to its origin, nor any trace by which it could be known that the discovery of vaccination was otherwise than Chinese.

38. Cutting of Steel by Soft Iron.-The very remarkable experiment on this subject which we described in our last Number, p. 409., has been successfully repeated by Mr Perkins. A piece of large hard file was cut by him into deep notches by the burr of soft iron. When the burr was applied against the flat surface of the file, the teeth were removed without any sensible elevation of the temperature of the metal. The burr was not reduced in size or weight, but had acquired a very hard surface at the cutting part.

34. Granite for London Bridge.-As this grand national work is about to be erected, a considerable discussion has arisen respecting the materials of which it is to be built. It is agreed on all hands that the stone must be Granite; and that the granite employed must be the strongest in Great Britain. In an article in the Journal of the Royal Institution, Vol. XVI. p. 30. it is taken for granted that the Cornish granite is to be used; but the writer of that article, when he made this supposition, was certainly not aware of the interesting experiments of Mr George Rennie, on the strength of the granite from Aberdeen, published in the Philosophical Transactions for 1818, p. 131, 132. In that paper, which the anonymous writer quotes, Mr Rennie states, that a 1 inch cube of Cornish granite is crushed with a force of 14,302 lb. avoirdupois, whereas it required 24,556 lb. avoirdupois to crush a similar cube of Aberdeen granite. Mr Rennie found also, that the Aberdeen granite possessed the valuable property of being lighter than the Cornish granite, the specific gravity of the former being 2.625, and that of the latter 2.662. Hence it may be shewn, that a pillar of Cornish granite will crush at its base, if its height is 5498 feet, whereas a pillar of Aberdeenshire granite will not crush at its base till it reaches the enormous height of 9600 feet. In con

sequence of this decided superiority of Aberdeen granite, the arch-stones of the Bridge of Aberdeen, built of Aberdeen granite, have only about one-half the depth of the arch-stones of the Strand Bridge built of Cornish granite, although the span of the arch in the former is about 10 feet wider than the span of the arch in the latter. The Committee of Management of the London Bridge has advertised for specimens of Granite from different parts of the kingdom, and their relative strengths are to be determined by the Royal Society of London.

ART. XXXII.-List of Patents granted in Scotland from 8th August to 4th December 1823.

21. TO JOHN BUTLER and ELLIS GLEEAVE, of Manchester, in the county of Lancaster, machine-makers, and partners in busi-› ness, for " a new machine-engine, or mechanical contrivance, for. feeding or supplying steam-boiler furnaces, or other furnaces, with coals, cokes, or other fuel, by machinery, whereby the quantity of smoke proceeding therefrom is greatly reduced, and a great saving is effected in the quantity of fuel consumed, and in the labour necessary for feeding and supplying the same therewith." Sealed at Edinburgh 28th August 1823.

22. TO THOMAS LEACH, of Friday Street, London, merchant, for "improvements in certain parts of the machinery for roving, spinning wool, cotton, silk, flax, and all other fibrous substances." Sealed at Edinburgh 6th September 1823.

23. TO THOMAS HANCOCK, of Goswell, Parish of St Luke's, Old Street, county of Middlesex, patent cork-manufacturer, for "an improvement in the preparation of various useful purposes of pitch and of tar, separately or in union, by an admixture of other ingredients with either or both of them." Sealed at Edinburgh 5th September 1823.

24. TO ARCHIBALD BUCHANAN, of Catrine Cotton-Works, one of the partners of the house of James Finlay and Co. merchants in Glasgow, for "an invention of an improvement in the. construction of weaving-looms, impelled by machinery, whereby a greater quantity of cloth may be weaved in a given time, without injury to the fabric, than by any application of power for that purpose heretofore employed." Sealed at Edinburgh 10th. October 1823.