48 



HOMING AND RELATED ACTIVITIES OF BIRDS. 



due east of Bird Key. Thinking that Dr. McClendon had made the Galveston 

 boat, we did not visit the nests that afternoon. On the following morning, 

 in making the rounds of the nests, we observed several of the marked birds on 

 their nests. We began then to make systematic observations and report here 

 the first time each bird was observed at its nest. In all cases these are the 

 actual first observances of appearance on the nest, but in view of what has been 

 said earlier (p. 45) it is possible that the birds may have attempted on earlier 

 occasions to take possession of the nest. Tables 8 and 9 show the time of 

 release, the markings of the bird, and the apparent time of return. 



On June 10, at 2'' 30"* p. m., 1 man-o'-war bird was observed. That the 

 others were not observed is not remarkable, since: 



(1) There was no adequate stimulus to cause them to return. The man- 

 o'-war bird is at home on any coast or island south of Hatteras. He merely 

 acts as a scavenger wherever he may find himself. The results might be quite 

 different if we were to carry out similar exjjerunents upon him in the Bahamas 

 at the time of the nesting season or were to rear these birds as pets. 



Table 9. — Flight of sooties from Key West. 



(2) The second difficulty lies in the fact that many of the birds are deeply 

 hidden l)y the bushes. For some reason not yet found out they line the edges 

 of the bushes wherever the terns are nesting; we now suspect for the purpose of 

 collecting the eggs and young. They often roost and rest quite low and it is 

 impossible to cover the whole island adequately with the glasses. Even if the 

 other birds did return, the chances are much against the fact being discovered. 



Before the above 4 birds were released, 2 man-o'-war birds were released by 

 Dr. Mayer in Key West, on May 6, at 2'' 1.3" p. m. One of these birds returned 

 on May 11. We happened to get close enough to ob.serve him without the 

 aid of glasses. On account of the difficulty of noting their return, future work 

 with them was discontinued. 



The records that the terns made in this Key West flight are valuable in view of 

 the fact that thej' show that the birds, when covering short distances, require, in 

 tnany cases, as much time as birds covering longer distances. In the above tables 

 the time ranges from 17.5 hours to 1 1 days. Many of the returns from distances 

 greater than 500 miles did not require more than .3 to 5 days (pp. 50 and 58). 



As this Key West flight gave us a set of " trained" birds, we tested the speed at 

 which the noddy and sooty can fly, as follows: 3 noddies and 1 sooty, which 



