50 Years Ago

Swifts in a Tower. By Dr. David Lack — The domestic life of the swift...was until lately almost unknown, because it nests in holes which are commonly inaccessible, on high buildings, and often too far into these to be reached in any event. This book, however, describes ten years of observation of nesting swifts 'from the inside'. The opportunity was offered by the colony in the ventilation holes in the tower of the University Museum at Oxford (associated in memory with the historic debate on evolution between Huxley and Wilberforce); it was ingeniously taken, by the insertion of nesting boxes with lids and glass panels to study the birds at closest quarters from within the tower. Many ornithologists and others have climbed the tall interior ladders to see the birds, which are unafraid of approach in these circumstances; but it is to many hours of patient observation by the author, and by his wife and other assistants, that we owe the wealth of information now presented in such attractive form. The results are of great interest, and are illustrated by remarkable electronic flash photographs by Mr H. N. Southern.

ALSO

Mr. Duncan Sandys, Minister of Housing and Local Government, has confirmed an order establishing the Gower Peninsula, Glamorgan, as an area of outstanding natural beauty... the first of its kind under the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act, 1949.

From Nature 26 January 1957.

100 Years Ago

The pipe line conveying petroleum from Baku to the Black Sea has been completed. It is 550 miles long, and is capable of passing 400,000,000 gallons of oil yearly. Another important oil-pipe line has been built for transporting Texas and California petroleum across the Isthmus of Panama. It is 8 inches in diameter and fifty-one miles long.

From Nature 24 January 1907.