70 AMERICAN MIDLAND NATURALIST 
considerable variety in the song of the male, and the same clear | 
tones in the voice of the female. Most of the summer, a few notes 
may be heard, delivered in a less forcible manner. 
RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD. 
Agelaius phoeniceus. 
The notes of this blackbird are clear and melodious, but have 
little variety. The bird’s habitat is in swampy places, where its 
song may be heard a great way off. After the nesting season, 
the song is seldom heard, but a shrill whistle is given for a longer 
time. 
(To be continued.) 
EDITORIAL. 
THINGS NEW AND OLD. 
On more than one previous occasion we have found that 
so called discoveries of our time had really been originally made 
several centuries ago. There has come to our notice now a work 
on “The Law of Sex-determination and Its Practical Application,”’ 
by Laura A. Calhoun,* which may again illustrate the fact. Mrs. 
Calhoun has had much experience in California in breeding animals 
and proposes a theory of conditions that determined the sex of 
offspring. She proposed as the principal thesis the following: 
“The sex of the embryo in man and the higher animals is 
determined in the ovary from which the ovum in question is 
developed. In the normal female, the ovary of the right side 
yields ova which on fertilization develop as males and the ovary 
of the left side yields ova which are potentially female.” 
Commenting on this, David Starr Jordan* states that “from 
this arises the practical deduction that sex can be determined 
at will through the service of gravitation. For the prospective 
mother to lie on the right side should ensure male offspring. To 
allow the spermatic fluid to flow to the left side means female 
offspring.’’ Other theories of telegyny are proposed more or 
less scantily supported by facts. We have other theories with 
* The Law of Sex-Determination and Its Practical Application”’, 
Laura A, Calhoun. The Eugenic Publishing Company, New York. 
* Science, Vol. XXXIII., No. 846, p. 429., Friday, March 17, 1911. 
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