690 



ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN. 



ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN. 



EI.WIN K. SANBORN, El.lT.iR. 



SrpartmrnlQ : 



MAMMAL BIRD 



VV. T. HORNADAV, Sc. D. C. William Beebe. 



AyUARIl'M 

 C. H. TOWNSEND, Sc. D. 



PublislieiJ Bi-Moiitbly at the Office of the Society, 



11 Wall Street, New York City. 



Single Numbers. 10 Cents ; Yearly, 70 Cents. 



MAILED FREE TO MEMBERS. 



Copyright, 1910, by the New York Zoological Society. 



Nu.Miiini II .SKl'TKMBKK, lillil 



(0Birrra of tift ^ortrtQ. 

 Prraibrnt : 



£xrnitlur (Sammtttrr : 



Madison Grant, Chairman, 



John S. Barnes, Samuel Thorne, William White Niles, 



Percy R. Pyne, Levi P. Morton, Wm. Piebson Hamilton. 



Frank K. STrRGls. 



Henry Fairfield Osborn, Ex-Officio. 



drnrral (Sffitrm : 



Secretary, Madison Grant, 11 Wall Street. 



Treasurer, Percy R. Pyne, 30 PINE Street. 



Director, William T. Hornadav, Sc.D., Zoological Park. 



Director of the Aquarium, Chaulks H. Townsend Sc.D., Battery Park. 



Saarb of JHanagprB : 



Ex-Officio 

 The Mayor of the City of New York - - Hon. William J. Gaynor 

 The President of the Department of Parks, Hon. Charles B. Stover 



aUa*aafl911. (SUbr nf 1912. ffilass of 1913. 



Henry F. Osboru, Levi P. Morton, F. AugustuaSchermerhorn. 



William C. Church, Andrew Carnegie, Percy R. Pyne, 

 Lispenard Stewart, John L. Cadwalader, George B. Grinnell, 

 H. Casimir de Rham, John S. Barnes, Jacob H. Schiff, 



Hugh D. Auchincloss, Madison Grant, George C. Clark, 



Charles P. Dleterich, William White Niles, Cleveland H. Dodge, 

 James J. Hill, Samuel Thorne, C. Ledyard Blair, 



George F. Baker, Henry A. C. Taylor, Frederick G. Bourne, 



Grant B. Schley, Hugh J. Chisholm, W. Austin Wadsworth. 



James W. Barney, Frank K. Sturgis, Emerson McMillin, 



Wm.PiersonHamillon, George J. Gould, Anthony R. Kuser 



Robert S. Brewster Ogden Mills 



(SS&ine af tl|C Zoalagiral Park: 



W. T. Hornaday, Sc. D., Director. 

 H. R. Mitchell - . - - Chief Clerk and Disbursing Officer. 

 Raymond L. Ditmars - - Curator of Reptiles. 



C. William Beebe - - Curator of Birds. 



W. Reid Blair, D.V.S, ■ - Veterinarian and Pathologist. 



H. W. Merkel ... - Chief Forester and Constructor. 

 Elwin R. Sanborn - - - Editor and Photographer. 



G. M. Beerbower - - - Civil Engineer. 



W. I. Mitchell . - - . Office Assistant. 



(S&inB of tl|( Aquarium 



Charles H. Townsend, Sc.D., Director. 

 Raymond C. OsBi'RN, Ph.D. - - - Assistant Director. 

 W. 1. DkNy.se In Charge of Collections. 



A FEATHERED PESTILENCE ABROAD. 



In the ,\])ia Samoanische Zeituny, Mr. Ma.son 

 Mitchell, .\merican Consul and a life member of the 

 Zoological Societ_v, publishes a very interesting article 

 under the caption "A Pe.st in Samoa." From it, 

 which we reproduce entire herewith, it appears that 

 in comparison witli tlie mynah our English sparrow 

 is a veritable dove of peace. The inference, — lie- 

 ware of the mynah ! — Ed. 



Sometime since, a cage of mynah birds {Acri- 

 dothercs tristris) was brought to Apia. The 

 party who landed the birds was undoubtedl}^ 

 ignorant of their habits, and the consequences 

 of his act, as they were soon afterwards liber- 



ated. They are vicious and pugnacious, besides 

 devouring the young and eggs of other species. 



Like the cuckoo, they seldom build their own 

 nests, but prefer to eject the eggs of other birds 

 .•lud take ])ossession of their building. 



Honolulu at tlie present day is bereft to a 

 great extent of its beautiful song and perching 

 birds, owing to the introduction of the mynahs. 



i\Ir. Rothschilds in his ornithological work, 

 Vol. Ill of the "Avifauna of Laysan," page 

 .'iOO, states that the mynah "kills and eats the 

 young and eggs of small birds." 



^lore recently still Mr. Perkins {Ibis for Oc- 

 tober, 1901) affirms that the mynah "not only 

 attacks and drives away other birds, but also 

 devours their eggs and young." He adds fur- 

 ther (p. ,580) that he has himself seen the 

 mynah "devouring both young and eggs of other 

 species."' 



Such evidence is conclusive, and establishes 

 the habits of the bird. In addition, in China I 

 liave seen them attack smaller birds, and what 

 they have done in other lands will doubtless re- 

 occur here. 



In Samoa we have many beautiful specimens 

 in tlic avifauna of the forty-nine known species 

 that inhal)it or visit these islands. Among them 

 are the crimson-headed honey-sucker {Sega 

 .legamait'u), and the iao, another species of the 

 same family ; the painted pigeons, manutagi 

 and manuma, also the beautiful little loriquet of 

 the ])arrot tribe {Sega samoa). These and 

 others will be driven from the Island or de- 

 voured unless the mynah is exterminated. There 

 are but few at present, and found in the bush 

 back of tlie German Firm, but it is hoped that 

 both whites and natives will kill them whenever 

 ojiportunity offers, for the mynah is a wary bird 

 and the traps or poison that have been tried in 

 the Hawaiian Islands were of no avail. They 

 multiplied with rapidity, and to-day overrun 

 that country. 



They are of brownish color and may be easily 

 recognized by the white patches on the tips of 

 the wings. Head and neck blackish, a bare 

 spot of yellow behind the eye, wings barred 

 with white, under parts and under tail-coverts 

 white, bill yellow. Length about nine inches. 



Tlie mynah comes originally from India, and 

 belongs to the starling family. 



Mason Mitchell. 



PROTECTION OF BIRDS IN NATAL. 



We are informed that the Government of 

 Natal issued on May 28 last a ])roclamation 

 amending the Act of 1896 for the protection of 



