ZOOLOGICAL REPORT. 109 



ZOOLOGICAL REPORT. 



BY PEOF. J. W. P. JENKS. 



To the Members of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society — 



Gentlemen : — In presenting a translation of the accompanying memoir, 

 allow me to say, that I propose to make the investigation of the food of birds 

 a study for years to come, under the auspices of our Society. 



The general proposal is to examine and preserve both the stomach and 

 contents of every species of bird inhabiting with us or in New England, 

 with a view to arriving at some just conclusion in reference to the specific 

 food of each during the different seasons of the year, and the consequent 

 determination of the service rendered by each species in preventing the 

 multiplication of injurious insects, and smaller animals. My brief expe- 

 rience teaches me to suspect that each species of bird has a specific 

 mission in the above particulars, and that not only the strictly insectivorous, 

 but the rapacious and granivorous, have their duties to perform bearing 

 directly upon the matter of aiding the tiller of the soil in preserving the 

 balance of favorable and unfavorable influences, from Avhatever part 

 of the animal kingdom they may come. It will be a life-work, but, I trust, 

 will give yearly results beneficial to science. The accompanying memoir 

 will show how good a beginning has been made on the other side of the 

 water in the exploration of this hitherto almost entirely unexplored field of 

 Natural History. 



A Memoir on the Alimentary Regimen of Birds, presented to the Imperial 

 Zoological Society of Paris, by M. Ftorent Prevost, on the 2\st oj May, 

 1858 ; translated by Prof J. W. P. Jenks. 



Since the beginning of the present century Zoological science has made 

 considerable progress by means of anatomical researches. A more com- 

 plete knowledge of the organs has thrown upon comparative physiology 

 new light, and has revealed, according to the species of animals, the most 

 interesting variations in the accomplishment of their diverse functions. 



But we must acknowledge that this mode of investigation throws little 

 light upon some Zoological questions, and particularly those which concern 

 the instincts and habits of animals. In respect to them it is necessary to 

 follow another method in order to establish the facts, and the difficulty of 

 seizing them, explains sufficiently why this part of the science, although it 

 excites all the interest one can desire, is still so little advanced, compared 

 with many others. 



These remarks apply especially to the large class of birds. Endowed by 

 the Creator with the most marvellous means of locomotion, denizens of the 

 air, into which man hardly knows how to elevate himself and through 



