50 



HOMING AND RELATED ACTIVITIES OF BIRDS. 



yards, alighting in the water. One sooty was too weak to maintain itself in 

 the air. These birds probably would have had to fly 1,000 miles before they 

 could find a suitable fishing-ground. As has been mentioned, they eat only 

 live minnows, which hop over the surface of the water. In view of this fact it 

 is not surprising that none of the birds returned to Bird Key. Furthermore, 

 the spring in 1910 was much delayed. The air and water in New York harbor 

 were unusually cold, but the other weather conditions at first were favorable. 

 There were south and southeast winds on the 24th and 2.5th, while a heavy 

 northeast wind with squalls began on the 26th and continued through the 

 27th. From May 28 to June 1 a flat calm prevailed. On the 1st of June a 

 heavy south wind set in. 



THE FIRST GALVESTON TRIP, 1910. 



The birds as marked below were captured and put into a hooded cage on 

 the afternoon of May 29, 1910. They were carried to Key West on the 

 Physalia May 30, and put on board the Mallory boat Concha, leaving Key West 

 in the afternoon of June 1, in charge of Mr. Wilson. Two releases were made. 

 The birds in the first release were marked as set out in table 13. 



Table 13. — First release. 



Noddy : 



No. 1. Yellow, one horizontal bar on head. 



2. Yellow, two horizontal bars on head. 



3* Yellow, one vertical bar on head. 



4. Yellow, two vertical bars on head. 



Sooty: 



No. 1. Red, one horizontal bar on breast. 



2. Red, two horizontal bars on breast. 



3. Red, one vertical bar on breast. 



4. Red, two vertical bars on breast. 



These birds were released June 3 at 4'' 45™ a. m., en route for Galveston, in 

 the open ocean. The Concha was then 470 knots from Key West. Since Bird 

 Key is 60 knots from Key West that distance must be subtracted, leaving a 

 distance from Bird Key of 410 knots, or approximately 461 statute miles. 

 On release all birds with one exception started east. That one headetl west 

 and continued for about 200 yards, then turned suddenly and starteil east. 

 The birds all flew up about 20 to 30 feet, then downward, and started off within 

 a few feet of the water. 



The returns were as follows: 



Noddy No. 1 returned niaht of .lune 0; time, 3 days. 



Noddy No. 4 returned nijiht of June 6; time, 3 days. 



Since Noddy No. 3 died we have 2 noddies out of 3 returnini; from this trip. 



None of the sooties was noted with certainty at Bird Key. This is the first successful flight over 

 open water where no shore-lino is visible that has ever Ijeen recorded in any homing bird. The 

 homing pigeons' flight over open water, even where there is a coast-line, rarely exceeds 200 km. 



What makes this flight all the more surprising is the fact that the birds 



had a strong head wind against them all during the first day. The second 



day was calm, while on the last day heavy winds were again against them. 



Thirteen other birds, marked as shown in table 14, were taken to Oalveston 



harbor. 



Table 14. — Gaheston harbor release. 



♦Died in passage. 



fNos. 5 and 7 were mates. 



