Ill



The New York Zoological Park.



species of Cuckoos, the Belted Kingfisher and many others suc¬

cessfully rear their young nearly every year.


Mr. Beebe’s notes on hatching and rearing some sea birds

from eggs obtained on Cobb Island, Virginia, are specially in¬

teresting. In July 1903 be made a trip to this locality, and on his

return brought home some two dozen eggs of various sea-birds,

including those of the Black Skimmer, Common Tern, Laughing

Gull, Clapper Rail and Green Heron, all being in advanced

stages of incubation and intended for embryological study. At

first no special care was taken of the eggs, and three days

elapsed between the time of their collection and the date of their

examination. They were brought to New York in an empty

Kodak case, and several were cracked on the way. The tem¬

perature during these three days ranged from 60 to So degrees,

which was sufficient to keep the embryos alive, and, when

examined, their vigor was so pronounced that they were all

placed in an incubator in a temperature of 102 deg. with the

result that almost all of them hatched within from one to five

days.


The young birds which were kept under careful obser¬

vation were Terns ( Sterna hirunda), a Black Skimmer ( Rhynchops

nigra), a Laughing Gull (Lams atticilla ), and a Green Heron

(.Butorides virescens). All were kept together in a large wooden

box, with a glass front and wire roof, and with a flooring of fine

white sand.


At a temperature of no deg. in the direct rays of the

sun they panted violently, at 75 deg. they shivered ; and 90 deg.

in the shade seemed to satisfy them best.


It was noticed that while yet wholly within the shell the

young Terns uttered a peep, peep, much like a young chicken,

but the instant they left the shell they uttered the typical

tear-r-r of the old birds, though of course in a very feeble tone.

When about a week old they did not feed so well as at first, and

a new diet was tried. “Heretofore,” the author writes, “ the fish

(tiny kiltie-fish) was half boiled, chopped and mixed with ants’

eggs. Now a hearty meal was given to the ever ravenous Wood

Ibises, and two hours later a little judicious teasing persuaded

them to disgorge a mass of finely comminuted fish, sweet-



