JloDfe jBletoe^ anti 3^ebteto0 



The Behavior of Noddy and Sooty 

 Terns. By John B. Watson, Profes- 

 sor of Experimental and Comparative 

 Psychology. The Johns Hopkins Univer- 

 sity. Papers from the Tortugas Labora- 

 tory of the Carnegie Institution of 

 Washington. II, 190S, 189-255 pages. 

 1 1 plates. 



While ornithologists must regret that 

 this, the first adequate study of the nesting 

 habits of colonial birds, was made by a 

 naturalist who is not primarily an orni- 

 thologist, they should be grateful to Dr. 

 Watson for this unique contribution to 

 our knowledge of bird-life, as well as for 

 his admirable exposition of methods of 

 observation and experimentation which 

 he has so profitably employed. 



Dr. Watson, who, while working under 

 the auspices of the Carnegie Institution, 

 incidentally served as a warden of the 

 National Association of Audubon Socie- 

 ties, reached Bird Key in the Tortugas 

 on May 4, and remained there, day and 

 night, until July i<S. He estimated the 

 avian population of the Key, on the basis 

 of the number of nests counted, to be 1,400 

 Noddies and 18,858 Sooty Terns. On 

 his arrival the birds were beginning to lay; 

 before his departure young of the year 

 were flying. Here, then, we have a trained 

 investigator, an abundance of material, 

 including two species of birds, and con- 

 tinuity of observation throughout the 

 breeding season. Such conditions have 

 not to our knowledge iicfore been realized, 

 nor arc we familiar with a more important 

 paper on the life-history of birds. 



In addition to a detailed, intimate 

 study of the habits of each species, we are 

 given the results of a series of carefully 

 planned experiments designed to test their 

 intelligence, one of which has already 

 liccome widely known as an exceptionally 

 significant contribution to the study of bird 

 migration. We refer to the sending of 

 marked Noddies and Sooties away from 

 the Key and their release at Key West, 

 Havana, and olT Cape Hatteras, whence 



they returned to the Tortugas, on which 

 we have already commented (Bird-Lore, 

 X, 1908, p. 134). 



It is out of the question in this connection 

 even to outline the results of Dr. Wat- 

 son's paper, and we can only urge every 

 student of bird-life to consult it not alone 

 for its contained information but more 

 particularly because of the methods of 

 research employed. — F. M. C. 



Birds of the Boston Public Garden, 

 A Study in Migration. By Horace 

 WiNSLOW Wright. Boston and New 

 York. Houghton, M'fflin & Co. 1909. 

 16 mo. xiii4-238 pages; 8 half- tones. 



.\ ( iiy j)ark, from the early morning 

 view-point of the night-migrating bird, 

 is as much an island of rest and refresh- 

 ment as though it were surrounded by 

 water instead of houses. Often the birds, 

 which, in the country, would have been 

 distributed over a much larger area, are 

 focused in these small green spaces, there 

 to remain until they start on another night 

 journey. Hence birds, as a rule, neither 

 come to nor depart from these city islands 

 by day, and the phenomena of migration 

 are not apt to be confused with merely 

 local movements or diurnal wanderings. 

 The record of migration, therefore, is here 

 written in a few words and a plain 

 language which the student may hope to 

 interpret with comparative ease. 



For nine years Mr. Wright has observed 

 the spring migration of ijirds in the Boston 

 Public Garden with a diligence which 

 bespeaks the enthusiasm of the true bird 

 lover. ''Not half a dozen days in the eight 

 seasons subsequent to the year of begin- 

 ning, have the visit and the record been 

 admitted after the season had opened". 

 .\s a result we have a fully annotated list 

 of the 116 species which have been seen 

 in the Common or Public Garden, and an 

 introduction on the general subject of 

 migration possessing far more than local 

 interest and value. 



(>78) 



