HISTORICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF HOMING. 



49 



had already flown from Key West on the above flight, were again captured and 

 sent in a hooded cage to Key West; they were released in Key West harbor at 

 2 p. m. (See table 10.) 



TABLE 10. 



Birds. 



Time. 



Remarks. 



Noddy 1 

 Noddy 2 

 Noddy 3 

 Sooty I 1 



5 h 45 n 

 5 h 45 n 

 5 h 45 n 

 5 h 45 D 



All birds returned together. They came in with a great flock of other 

 birds which had been feeding on the open water (the return of the 

 birds in large flocks is usual just at nightfall). The birds probably 

 made good time until the feeding-ground was reached, and then 

 leisurely ate. It would be a far better test to take well-fed birds and 

 release them about 5 p. m. Owing to an oversight this test was not 

 made in 1913. 



1 The young bird was present in the nest of this sooty. 



Since Bird Key is only 65.4 miles from Key West, the time (3 h 45 m ) is not 

 very rapid when compared with that in which the homing pigeon could cover a 

 short distance like this (at the rate of 1,200 to 1,600 yards per minute). 



ATTEMPTED FLIGHT FROM NEW YORK AND EN ROUTE. 



On the afternoon of May 19, 1910, birds for a New York-Tortugas flight 

 were captured. They were taken to Key West, leaving the island at 8 a. m., 

 May 20, on the Vellela. It was stormy and the Vellela got into Key West too 

 late to catch minnows for the trip. While we felt sure that this doomed the 

 expedition to failure, nevertheless we purchased a large fish, which we cut up 

 into strips, substituting it as a food supply in place of the minnows. The 

 Mallory boat Concha left Key West harbor the night of May 20 at 10 h 30 m , 

 the birds being in charge of Mr. Wilson. The cage was hooded and in addition 

 was carried in the hold of the vessel. The first lot of birds was marked as 

 shown in table 11. 



TABLE 11. Night release. 



Sooty No. 1. Yellow, line down back, 1 dot on breast. 

 Sooty No. 2. Yellow, both wings splotched. 

 Sooty No. 3. Yellow, right wing splotched. 

 Sooty No. 4. Yellow, 3 vertical bars on left wing. 



These 4 birds were released at 7 h 30 m p. m., 365 miles from Bird Key, at 

 night (immediately after twilight had disappeared). Only 1 bird from this 

 lot returned, requiring approximately 4 days. On release, 1 of the 4 birds 

 started due south and the others southeast. The weather was fair until the 

 24th. On the evening of the 24th a heavy southeast wind set in, which made 

 it impossible for the birds to make Bird Key. The rest of the birds were 

 carried to New York. They were marked as shown in table 12. 



Sooty 



No. 1 



2 



TABLE 12. Released in New York harbor. 



Noddy: 



No. 1. Red, solid head. 



2. Red, vertical bar on head. 



3. Red, one horizontal bar on head. 



4. Red, right wing and head solid. 



5. Red, left wing and head solid (died in 



passage.) 



6. Red, splotched head. 



Yellow, solid breast. 



Yellow, one vertical bar on breast. 



3. Yellow, one large horizontal bar on breast. 



4. Yellow, two large horizontal barson breast. 



5. Yellow, vertical bars on breast. 



6. Yellow, splotched breast. 



On account of the food conditions the birds became weaker and weaker. 

 They were released in New York harbor on Tuesday morning, May 24, at 

 4 h 30 m , in a fog. On release they left the ship and flew to a distance of 200 



