HISTORICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF HOMING. 



49 



had already flown from Key West on the above flight, were again captured and 

 sent in a hooded cage to Key West; they were released in Key West harbor at 

 2 p. m. (See table 10.) 



Table 10. 



' The young bird was present in the nest of this sooty 



Since Bird Key is only 65.4 miles from Key West, the time (3^ 45") is not 

 very rapid when compared with that in which the homing pigeon could cover a 

 short distance like this (at the rate of 1,200 to 1,600 yards per minute). 



ATTEMPTED FLIGHT FROM NEW YORK AND EN ROUTE. 

 On the afternoon of May 19, 1910, birds for a New York-Tortugas flight 

 were captured. They were taken to Key West, leaving the island at 8 a. m., 

 May 20, on the Vellela. It was stormy and the Vellela got into Key West too 

 late to catch minnows for the trip. While we felt sure that this doomed the 

 expedition to failure, nevertheless we purchased a large fish, which we cut up 

 into strips, substituting it as a food supply in place of the minnows. The 

 Mallory boat Concha left Key West harbor the night of May 20 at lO*" 30"", 

 the birds being in charge of Mr. Wilson. The cage was hooded and in addition 

 was carried in the hold of the vessel. The first lot of birds was marked as 

 shown in table 11. 



Table 11. — Night release. 



Sooty No. 1. Yellow, Une down back, 1 dot on breast. 



Sooty No. 2. Yellow, both wings splotched. 



Sooty No. 3. Yellow, right wing splotched. 



Sooty No. 4. Yellow, 3 vertical bars on left wing. 



These 4 birds were released at 7^ 30" p. m., 365 miles from Bird Key, al 

 night (immediately after twilight had disappeared). Only 1 bird from this 

 lot returned, requiring approximately 4 days. On release, 1 of the 4 bnds 

 started due south and the others southeast. The weather was fair until the 

 24th. On the evening of the 24th a heavy southeast wind set in, which made 

 it impossible for the birds to make Bird Key. The rest of the birds were 

 carried to New York. They were marked as shown in table 12. 



Table 12. — Released in New York harbor. 

 Noddy : 



Sooty : 



No. 1. Yellow, solid breast. 



2. Yellow, one vertical bar on bre.ast. 



3. Yellow, one large horizontal bar on breast 



4. Yellow, two large horizontal bars on breast 

 6. Yellow, vertical bars on breast. 

 6. Yellow, splotched breast. 



Red, solid head. 



2. Red, vertical bar on head. 



3. Red, one horizontal bar on head. 



4. Red, right wing and head solid. 



5. Red, left wing and head solid (died in 

 passage.) 



6. Red, splotched head. 



On account of the food conditions the birds became weaker and weaker. 

 They were released in New York harbor on Tuesday morning. May 24, at 

 4'' 30"°, in a fog. On release they left the ship and flew to a distance of 200 



