6 PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. 



has been found in Basutoland, and one marked in Hungary 

 in Natal, and other similar cases show that European storks 

 habitually migrate to South Africa. Why they should go 

 such an unnecessary distance to obtain the desired climate is a 

 mystery. A system of marking with small rings, numbered 

 and addressed, has been started by the Editor of " British 

 Birds," Mr. Witherby, of High Holborn, and anyone able 

 and willing to take part could help to elucidate this very 

 puzzling subject. Bird migration is also being similarly 

 investigated in America. A novel explanation of the great 

 mortality which occurs amongst shrews in autumn is that 

 they die of old age, their life extending to about fourteen 

 months. This is supported, the author says, by the fact 

 that all caught after November are young ones. An inter- 

 esting method of existence is seen in the African jerboa 

 in the desert where water and even dew are unobtainable 

 for long periods. The jerboa buries in the sand a sufficient 

 number of small juicy melons to last him during the dry 

 season, and with them satiates his thirst. Other desert 

 animals seem to obtain liquid in a similar way from succulent 

 plants, though I am not aware that they bury them. Experi- 

 ments have been recently made on the power of imitation 

 in monkeys, which former experiments have not always 

 shown to be so great as is popularly supposed, but in this 

 case out of 11 monkeys, seven imitated each form of test 

 in such things as simple arrangements for opening doors, &c., 

 whilst two monkeys failed altogether, the other two being 

 partially successful. The President of the Zoological Section 

 at the British Association Meeting last autumn dealt with 

 the question of the disappearing species of animals, which 

 are chiefly becoming extinct through man's agency, whether, 

 like some of the whales, destroyed for useful purposes, or the 

 large animals of Africa and elsewhere for amusement, or the 

 beautiful birds of various countries for dress. Africa, 

 Australia, America, and indeed many countries, have now 

 reserves where these persecuted species may be safe, and 

 laws, more or less, to protect them ; but these remedies are 



