ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 



i»i 



notes respecting the morays living in the New 

 York Aquarium: 



"I was very much interested in observing the attitudes 

 and postures of many of the fishes in the New York Aqua- 

 rium; most of all, those of the moray or muraenids. The 

 movements of members of this genus are very character- 

 istic — probably for the family, however, rather than the 

 genus. 



" Lying on the ground, preferably on rocky ground or 

 between rocks, they assume a position conformable to their 

 environment. The head is more or less upraised from the 

 ground, and the dorsal, and often anal, fins erect from the 

 front Ixu kwards. Rhythmically the mouth is opened and 

 completely closed, and in inverse sequence, the branchial 

 apertures are opened and closed. With the opening of the 

 mouth the apertures are closed; and when the mouth is 

 fully opened, the skin around the apertures is sucked in, as 

 it were. With the closure of the mouth, the expansion of the 

 apertures into circular foramina coincides. In the move- 

 ments there is a ludicrous suggestion to some of the slow- 

 moving, automatic toys of children. 



" Such are the movements of expiration and inspiration 

 most fre(|Uently manifested. Sometimes, however, the 

 movements are not so decided, and the lower jaw is only 

 slightly moved up and down; but the foramina are operated 

 nearly, if not quite, as much as in other cases. The mouth, 

 howe\er. may sometimes be left open, and the jaws not 

 moved for some time. 



" .\ rarer posture is assumed by coiling the body around 

 in a snake-like manner. Mr. DeNyse has observed them, 

 not infreijuently, in such an attitude. The coil is a loose 

 one, with the head central, and from this coil the head may 

 be slowlv upraised while the animal leisurely looks around. 

 The entire action resembles that of a snake; and the fish is 

 a fish in the guise of a snake. 



"This attitude, though rare in the typical morays, is 

 often assumed by the Channomura?na, and the apparent 

 elasticity of that tish is truly remarkable. It gives one the 

 impression (but a false one) that it can lengthen and 

 shorten itself at will. It does, however, dilate the bran- 

 chial region. 



"Occasionally they are disposed to inflate somewhat the 

 branchial region, and I was told by Mr. DeNyse, that in 

 fighting it was always their habit to dilate it to the utmost. 

 On such occasions they would throw themselves around 

 each other, forming an inseparable pair, and the chief 

 efforts made were to bite each other. These attempts were 

 not often successful, but if one succeeded, the other would 

 at once retreat." 



NESTING OF THE LAWRENCE WARBLER. 



Man y birds in the collection of the Society have laid eggs 

 and reared their young, and in addition, sixty-two species 

 of wild birds have nested within the limits of the Zoological 

 Park during the last three years. The rarest of all these 

 nests is a little cup of oak leaves lined with stri])S of soft 

 cedar bark which was built on the ground in the center of a 

 tangle of cat-brier near one of the Park buildings.* 



\\'hen I first saw the nest, it was almost concealed bv six 

 hungr)' mouths stretched eagerly upward, supported on six 

 scraggy necks. The young birds were just feathering out, 

 and they filled their little home to overflowing. Soon the 

 mother — a dainty Blue-Winged Warbler — came, and upon 



seeing us uttered a sharp "chip," which sent every nest- 

 ling crouching to the bottom of the nest. In a moment she 

 Hew down and gave to one of them a large, wriggling, green 

 cut-worm. 



This was not an unusual sight. Indeed, within a radius 

 of a few yards there were two or three other similar nests, 

 to the small occupants of which, other Blue-W'inged Warbler 

 mothers came frequently with food. But the father of this 

 brood was ditTerent from his mate. Instead of the yellow 

 throat, he was adorned with a shining jet-black gorget, 

 proclaiming him a beautiful Lawrence Warbler. 



He, too, fed one of the young birds and flew away, wiping 

 his bill carelessly before he took wing, all unconscious of 

 our breathless delight. But twelve of his kind have ever 

 been seen by ornithologists, and what his mate, his nest and 

 his brood were like, heretofore no one could say. 



The young birds left the nest on June i6th and four of 

 them were seen a week later, still accompanied by their 

 father, the incomparable Lawrence Warbler. 



It has been thought that this black-throated, yellow- 

 bodied bird is a hybrid between two species, the Blue- 

 Winged and the Golden-Winged Warblers. In this 

 instance the female was certainly a typical Blue-Wing. If 

 not a hybrid, may it not be a species in the process of forma- 

 tion? Such definite, radical variations are not at all un- 

 common among plants, birds and the smaller animals. 



The song of this Lawrence Warbler was a simple drawl- 

 ing trill, shree-e-e, swee-e-e-e, and the interesting point 

 about this is that the shree is the song of the Golden-Winged 

 species, while the zwee is the uterance of the Blue-Wing. 

 So if indeed he was a hybrid, his song perhaps reflected 

 equally the characteristics of both parents. 



.■\t any rate, he was allowed to rear his young and depart 

 in peace, and next year if he escapes the sparrow hawks 

 and shrikes of Mexico during his southern migration, he 

 may return and again make the Park his home. Then 

 perhaps we may hope for a solution of his tangled rela- 

 tionships. 



The scientific names of the three warblers mentioned are 

 as follows: 



Blue-Winged — Helmiiilhophiln piiius. 

 Lawrence — " lnurciicci. 



Golden-Winged — " clirysoptera. 



C. W. B. 



* The nest was first discovered by Dr. Wni. Wiegmann 

 a member of the Zoological Society. 



FEES FOR MEMBERSHIP. 



The fees for membership in the New York Zoological 

 Society are as follows : 



Annual membership $ lo.oo 



Life membership 200.00 



Patron's fee I.OOO.OO 



Founder's fee 5.000.00 



Benefactor's fee 25,000.00 



Information and blank forms for membership may be 

 obtained at the Service Building, at all entrances to the 

 Zoological Park, and at the Secretarj''s Office, No. n 

 Wall Street, New York City. 



