214 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 



the buffalo and the home of the prairie chicken and sharp-tailed grouse, 

 an enclosure for big game has been constructed. Here has been established 

 through the liberality of a public-spirited citizen of Nebraska a nucleus of a 

 herd of buffalo, elk and deer, which in time will doubtless increase and stock 

 a large part of the reservation. 



At the Tortugas Reservation in extreme southern Florida some very 

 interesting experiments are being conducted by Professor John B. Watson 

 in cooperation with the Carnegie Institution. Professor Watson, who has 

 acted as warden for several seasons, has been experimenting with the two 

 species of terns which nest on the island to determine, if possible, the manner 

 in which birds find their way during migration. He has also been studying 

 some of the problems connected with the nesting habits of the birds. Sev- 

 eral terns which were nesting on the island were marked for identification 

 and sent northward on a steamer from Key West to New York. When off 

 Cape Hatteras they were liberated and within a few days found their way 

 back to their nests on the reservation. In order to show that this so-called 

 "homing sense" was not fortuitous and not affected by the presence of the 

 Gulf Stream, experiments will be made this season in taking the birds west- 

 ward towards Galveston and setting them free at different points in the 

 Gulf of Mexico some distance from the island. Professor Watson has also 

 shown that the sooty tern is unable to pass the night on the water, indicating 

 that although a sea bird it cannot venture far from land when on migration, 

 whereas its neighbor, the noddy tern, apparently suffers no inconvenience 

 when forced to rest on the water. 



Many other questions in regard to food, time of nesting, period of incu- 

 bation, methods of feeding, causes which check increase of the various 

 species, and similar practical questions demand attention. These problems 

 can best be solved where birds are nesting in large numbers and in working 

 them out the reservations can be utilized as field laboratories for the increase 

 of our knowledge as well as refuges for the birds. 



