554 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XIX. No. 483. 



and never giving one canary an entire com- 

 plement of wild bird's eggs. In all cases the 

 egg's were hatched and in no case did the 

 foster-young attain an age of more than a 

 week, though it is to be remembered that in 

 every case young canaries in the same brood 

 with the foster-birds flourished and reached 

 maturity. During the season of 1903 I took 

 two young song sparrows, just beginning to 

 show the feathers, and put them with two 

 canaries about the same size, though more 

 fully feathered. These birds were readily 

 adopted by the parent canaries, but one of 

 them died after three days; the other was 

 reared, reached maturity, was weaned by the 

 old birds, being treated precisely as were their 

 own young, and is still alive at this writing. 



This series of experiments I have reported 

 as a suggestion for further work of a similar 

 kind. I had hoped that hatching the eggs of 

 wild birds under canaries would enable me to 

 observe the development of the foster-young 

 to an advanced age. It seemed to me that 

 there would be no possibility of their song 

 being other than such as could be attributed 

 either to inheritance or to intimate associa- 

 tion with a new kind of singing bird. In 

 all this I have, of course, met with disappoint- 

 ment; the only young bird being reared to 

 maturity, from the many I have tried, was a 

 song sparrow, almost fledged before introduced 

 to his foster-parents. It has occurred to me 

 that perhaps the kind of food, partially di- 

 gested by the parent canary birds, and then re- 

 gurgitated and fed to their young, would have 

 militated against the growth and development 

 of another kind of bird. However, in the case 

 of three cowbird's eggs upon which I have 

 experimented, all of which were hatched, this 

 should not have prejudiced their growth, when 

 we consider the variety of foster-parents that 

 are induced to hatch and rear the eggs and 

 young of the cowbird. 



To briefly summarize the work I have de- 

 scribed in some detail, forty-one different eggs 

 of wild birds, representing six species, and 

 three young birds already hatched, form the 

 aggregate of individuals dealt with. All of 

 the forty-one eggs were fertile, and were 

 hatched by the foster-parents. This is sug- 



gestive in regard to the propagating powers of 

 wild birds, and though not conclusive, indi- 

 cates a much higher percentage of fertility in 

 the eggs laid by them than obtains in song 

 birds when caged, or semi-domesticated. None 

 of the young which were hatched from these 

 eggs reached a greater age than seven days, 

 which would seem to indicate that the food 

 supplied by the foster-parents, which was the 

 same on which they raised their own offspring, 

 was of a kind so different from that used by 

 wild birds in rearing their young, that it 

 proved inadequate. I also believe that the 

 nest lining was of a character so unlike that 

 of the nests natural to the foster-chicks, that 

 it prejudiced their development and growth. 



In the light of the knowledge I have gained 

 I shall endeavor, in the coming breeding sea- 

 son, to conduct further experiments of a sim- 

 ilar character, and hope for better results. It 

 seems worthy of note that I have been able to 

 rear not only all the kinds of birds mentioned 

 by hand, but in addition some twenty other 

 species of song birds. These birds have been 

 taken from their parents' care at ages varying 

 from three to six or seven days, and over 

 ninety per cent, have been successfully reared, 

 being fed by hand. Such birds in most cases 

 have not only reached maturity, but many of 

 them have lived from three to seven years. 

 William E. D. Scott. 



Dbpabtment of Ornithology, 

 Pkincetok" Univeesity. 



notes on polyodon, i. 

 Whilp: engaged last summer on the upper 

 Mississippi in investigating the natural his- 

 tory of the spoonbill (Polyodon spathula) I 

 had occasion to examine a great many speci- 

 mens, caught by the fishermen in a five- 

 hundred-yard seine. My attention was soon 

 called to the presence of a pair of minute bar- 

 bels some distance in front of the mouth. Not 

 recalling any reference to these in the litera- 

 ture on Polyodon, 1 examined a great many 

 specimens and invariably found them present. 

 A further examination of the literature shows 

 that among systematists these barbels have 

 been entirely overlooked, although the ordi- 

 narily recognized affinities of the fish to the 



