126 BIKDS 



II 



In 1894-95, at the Lai Bagh aviary, Bangalore, there 

 was a winter or albino crow, separated only by stout bars 

 from a sick vulture in the next compartment, and other- 

 wise quite solitary. The native keeper informed us that 

 this crow regularly fed the vulture with choice morsels 

 from his own rations of offal ; and, although we did not 

 actually witness this deed of altruism, we saw the crow 

 standing as near the vulture as the bars permitted, with 

 as good a ' ' bedside manner ' ' and air of attentive solici- 

 tude as could possibly be desired in doctor or nurse ; the 

 morsels lying untasted at the vulture's feet and within 

 easy reach of the crow's beak, to the latter 's evident con- 

 cern. Later on this vulture died, and the keeper told 

 us that the crow had since taken to feeding its common 

 black brethren through the exterior bars. 



A. U. 



February 11, 1905. 



NOTE. See p. 125. 



AUTUMN MIGRANTS 



I was much interested in your article on " Autumn 

 Migrants " in the issue of September 23. May I, how- 

 ever, offer an alternative theory to Professor Thomson's? 

 It seems to me a rather airy hypothesis which assumes 

 that the " organic reminiscence of the original head- 

 quarters " returned conveniently after the Ice Age was 

 over. Such a reminiscence, if it existed, would have 

 cropped up continually during the intermediate genera- 

 tions, and the individuals who gave way to the impulse 

 would have been promptly eliminated by " natural selec- 

 tion," their old breeding place being still ice-bound. My 

 own theory occurred to me through watching martins feed 

 their young in June from 3 a.m. to 9 p.m., i.e., for 



