iSooft jBteto* anti 3&etoieto0 



Preliminary Report of an Investiga- 

 tion on the Seasonal Changes of 

 Color in Birds. By C. William 

 Beebe, American Naturalist, XLII, 

 1908, pp. 34-38. 



In continuing his important and novel 

 studies of the causes affecting the colors 

 of birds, Mr. Beebe gave himself this inter- 

 esting problem, "What is the cause of, 

 or what factors determine, the seasonal 

 change in the males of the Scarlet Tana- 

 ger and the Bobolink?" 



To give Mr. Beebe's answer would be 

 to reprint his paper, which, as a prelimi- 

 nary report, is largely an abstract of his 

 experiments. Briefly, male Scarlet Tana- 

 gers and male Bobolinks in full plumage 

 and in full song were confined in cages 

 where the supply of light was gradually 

 diminished and the amount of food gradu- 

 ally increased. The birds began at once 

 to gain in weight, and to lose in activity, 

 and shortly to discontinue singing, and 

 when the time for the fall molt arrived 

 not a feather was shed. 



"From time to time a bird was gradu- 

 ally brought into the light for a week or 

 two and meal-worms were added to its 

 diet. This invariably resulted in a full 

 resumption of song. Even in the middle of 

 winter a Tanager or a Bobolink would 

 make the room ring with its spring notes, 

 and with this'phenomenon was correlated 

 a slight decrease in weight. " 



Early the following spring Tanagers 

 and Bobolinks which were gradually 

 brought under normal conditions molted 

 as wild birds of the same species do, into 

 spring breeding plumage. Wild Scarlet 

 Tanagers, however, change at this season 

 from olive to scarlet, and male Bobolinks 

 exchange a plumage resembling that of 

 the female to the familiar black, white 

 and buff. With Mr. Beebe's birds, how- 

 ever, the fall molt having been sup- 

 pressed, the change in the Tanager was 

 from scarlet and black to scarlet and black, 

 and in the Bobolink from black, white 

 and buff to black, white and buff. 



Mr. Beebe's experiments are still in 

 progress and for the present he attempts 

 to make no attempt to explain the signifi- 

 cance of the results already achieved. — 

 F. M. C. 



Destruction of the Cotton Boll-Wee- 

 vil by Birds in Winter. By Arthur 

 H. Howell. Circular No. 64, Bureau 

 of Biological Survey, United States De- 

 partment of Agriculture. 



Mr Howell's investigations have raised 

 the number of species of birds known to 

 feed on the cotton-boll weevil from twenty 

 to fifty-three. Of these, thirty species prey 

 upon the weevil during the winter, when, 

 Mr. Howell remarks, it is far more impor- 

 tant to kill them than in summer, since 

 their death at this season "prevents the 

 production of a very numerous progeny 

 during the early summer. Brewer's, , Rusty 

 and Red- winged Blackbirds, Meadowlarks, 

 Savanna, Vesper, Field, Swamp, White- 

 throated and Fox Sparrows, American Pip- 

 its, Carolina, Bewick and Winter Wrens, 

 Tufted Titmice and Carolina Chickadees 

 are among the more important winter-bird 

 enemies of the weevil. — -F. M. C. 



Cassinia : Proceeds Delaware Valley 

 Ornithologist's Club, XI, 1907, Svo. 

 98 pages, 4 half-tones. 



'Cassinia' for 1907 opens with one of 

 Witmer Stone's admirable biographical 

 sketches of America's early ornithologists, 

 the subject being Adolphus L. Heermann, 

 whom we know chiefly through the two 

 birds which were named for him — Heer- 

 mann's Song Sparrow and Heermann's 

 Gull. Mr. Stone's remark that the prac- 

 tice of naming animals and plants after 

 collectors and students is justified by the 

 perpetuation of the memory of men who 

 might otherwise be forgotten, meets with 

 our hearty approval. It is the naming of 

 species after men who are not even re- 

 motely connected with or interested in 

 scientific pursuits that has brought this 

 practice into disrepute. 



(175) 



