344 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 19 3 2 



blooded " or with a body temperature equal to the surrounding air. 

 This explains why brooding of newly hatched birds by the parent 

 is so necessary for their proper development. During its life in the 

 nest, however, the fledgling evolves an efficient control system so that 

 when it is ready for separation from parental care its body tempera- 

 ture is more nearly uniform. 



The young bird accordingly may be considered as a cold-blooded 

 organism that develops into one with warm blood. This fact is of 

 significance as supporting evidence that the immediate preavian 

 ancestors were cold-blooded, which, of course, fits in with the modern 

 view of the reptilian ancestry of birds. 



The O. L. Austin Ornithological Research Station. — This station, 

 located at North Eastham, Cape Cod, Mass., was established as 

 recently as 1930, but the research program already prepared should 

 result in important contributions to our knowledge of North Amer- 

 ican birds. The director. Dr. Oliver L. Austin, sr., lias assigned 

 himself the task of ascertaining causes, symptomatology, and cura- 

 bility of the many diseases of birds. Already he has published 

 (1931) a short paper based upon many dissections, from which he 

 concludes that injuries resulting from their own activities or from 

 violence from other organisms and forces are the principal causes of 

 death in birds. 



Introduced species. — Investigations of the Biological Survey 

 through the banding method are confined to native birds although 

 exceptions are made when some special study of an introduced species 

 is contemplated. 



The remarkable increase and spread of the European starling 

 {Sturnus vulgai-^^is)., since its introduction in New York City in 

 1890 and 1891, has been watched with much apprehension by students 

 of birds. Because of the obvious potentialities of this bird for good 

 or bad, the Survey early authorized and urged its cooperators to 

 band them at every opportunity. As a gross result many thousands 

 are now wearing numbered bands. Centers of starling banding 

 activity have been Washington, D. C, and Columbus, Ohio. Dur- 

 ing the winters of 1927-28 and 1928-29, the author in company with 

 other Washington ornithologists conducted a banding campaign that 

 resulted in the marking of more than 4,500 of these birds. The 

 work was instituted under the direction of E. R. Kalmbach, of 

 the Biological Survey, who (1932) has described how the banding 

 operations so discouraged the birds that they have not since resorted 

 in large numbers to the church towers where so many of their fellows 

 were ignominiously treated. 



About 125 of these birds have since been reported as returns. 

 Seventy or more of these have been from points less than 20 miles 



