OCTOBEB 7, 1910] 



SCIENCE 



473 



harbor at 1.25 p.m.. Both were on their nests 

 at daylight of the following morning. In all 

 probability they returned in the evening of the 

 previous day (that is, on the same day they 

 were released). I recaptured these birds and 

 found that the nares were still perfectly closed. 

 The asphaltum had not been even scratched. 

 Both birds were in splendid condition. 



Experiments to Test the Water Habits of 

 Terns. — In my previous report I made the 

 statement that the terns are never seen in the 

 water, unless they fall in by accident. I made 

 no experimental test in 1907 of their conduct 

 when forced to remain in the water. It is 

 especially desirable in homing experiments to 

 know whether these birds can rest on the 

 water over night and still fly up from it in the 

 morning. For example, the flight of 800 miles 

 from Galveston to Bird Key can not be made 

 in a day, and unless the bird can rest on the 

 water at night they must perish. Exhaustive 

 tests were made by placing a large wire cage 

 in the water and confining the birds therein. 

 I quote an experiment in detail. 



Two noddies and two sooties were placed in 

 the cage at 5.15 p.m. All the birds alighted 

 on the surface of the water and then flew up 

 and struck against the sides of the cage. Both 

 noddies and sooties swam easily. The noddies 

 seemed very much at home in the water. 

 Their swimming movements were graceful and 

 well coordinated. When alighting upon the 

 surface of the water they folded their wings 

 tightly against the body and held the breast 

 and tail feathers high above the surface of the 

 water. 



The sooties on the other hand, arose and 

 alighted clumsily. They kept their head and 

 tail barely out of the water. Sometimes, in- 

 deed, the wings were stretched out in a vei-y 

 awkward way. In about two hours the birds 

 became quiet, and ceased to fly against the 

 sides of the cage. The noddies made just as 

 vigorous efforts to get out as did the sooties. 

 It soon became too dark to distinguish the 

 birds and I then left them undisturbed until 

 8.30 in the morning of the following day. 

 At that time both noddies were in first class 

 condition, and were swimming as easily as 



when first placed in the water. I opened the 

 cage and both birds swam out and arose from 

 the water. 



One sooty was dead. The other was just 

 barely alive. The feathers of this bird were 

 all . water-soaked. It was shivering with 

 cold. It could neither swim nor fly. I carried 

 the bird to the shore and put it in the sun, 

 where it remained motionless for nearly two 

 hours, and then flew away. I have repeated 

 these experiments again and again and al- 

 ways with essentially the same results. I then 

 modified the experiment slightly by tying 

 small wooden floats (| inch thick and 6 

 inches square) in such a way that they re- 

 mained in the center of the cage, regardless of 

 the tide. Under these conditions the birds, 

 both noddies and sooties immediately utilized 

 the floats, and remained resting upon them 

 making few efforts to escape. Even the sooties 

 are in perfect condition after a night spent in 

 this way. 



It seems well established by these experi- 

 ments that the noddy can spend a whole night 

 in the water and be little the worse for it, but 

 that the sooty must perish unless floating 

 driftwood or other objects afford it a resting 

 place. 



JoHX B. Watsox 



Johns Hopkiks Univebsitt 



» a new awnless barley 

 A NEW and distinct type of awnless winter 

 barley has been developed by the Office of 

 Grain Investigations of the Department of 

 Agriculture. It differs from the beardless 

 barley now cultivated in that there is no ap- 

 pendage on the glume. This variety is a 

 selection from among a large number of hy- 

 brids produced from a cross between Tennes- 

 see Winter, a white six-rowed variet.y (Eor- 

 deum vulgar e). and Black Arabian, a black 

 two-rowed variety (Hordeum distichum). In 

 the third generation a peculiar form appeared 

 in which the median spikelets contained awns 

 from three to four inches long, while a few 

 of the lateral spikelets contained rudimentary 

 grains with short awns. These short-awned 

 rudimentary grains were planted separately in 



