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A Station for the Study of Bird Life 



Articles of Incorporation have just been 

 drawn looking to the establishment, x)n a 

 permanent foundation, of the " Worth in gton 

 Society for the Investigation of Bird Life." 

 The founder, Mr. Charles C. Worthington, 

 will erect and endow, on his estate at 

 Shawnee, Monroe County, Pennsylvania, 

 the necessary buildings and equipment. 



The Worthington Society will have for 

 its purpose the consideration of bird life as 

 it is found in nature, and will also have 

 many birds under confinement for study and 

 experiment. 



The following is a summary of the chief 

 topics that will present an immediate field 

 for experimentation, which it is proposed 

 by the liberality of the foundation to make 

 continuous and exhaustive in the hope of 

 reaching conclusive results. 



I. The study and consideration of a 

 bird as an individual. It is believed that 

 by means of observation carried through 

 the entire life of the individual, with a 

 daily record, brief or elaborate, as exigen- 

 cies may require, much will be learned 

 regarding matters that are now obscure. 

 Facts, 'such as growth, habits, health, 

 temper, etc., will be daily reported. 



II. The study of the occurrence, extent, 

 nature and cause of variations in different 

 representatives of the same species. 



III. Changes in color and appearance 

 correlating with age, sex and season. 



IV. Changes in color and appearance due 

 to light, heat, presence or absence of mois- 

 ture, and to food. How rapid a change in 

 appearance can be effected by a new environ- 

 ment or a new set of conditions ? 



V. Heredity. What general character- 

 istics are transmitted ? Are acquired char- 

 acteristics transmitted ? The consideration 

 of atavism, prepotency and telegony. 



VI. Experiments in breeding. Hybridity 

 and the fertility of hybrids. The possibility 

 of establishing a new physiological species. 



VII. Experiments in change of color 

 due to moult. 



VIII. Adaptability. The plasticity of 

 animals. How great a factor is this in 

 domesticating new kinds of animals ? 



IX. The leisure of animals. How is 

 this acquired ? Being acquired, how is 

 this employed ? 



X. Instinct, habit, and the develop- 

 ment of intelligence. 



XI. The possibility of breeding insectivo- 

 rous and other beneficial kinds of birds, to 

 re-stock a given region or to increase 

 native birds, as has been done in the case 

 of fish, by the United States Fish Com- 

 mission. 



A temporary laboratory and aviary is 

 being equipped, and preliminary work will 

 begin with the instalment of a large 

 number of native and foreign birds early in 

 September. Mr. Worthington has pro- 

 cured the services of Mr. William E. D. 

 Scott, Curator of the Department of Orni- 

 thology at Princeton University, as Direc- 

 tor of the proposed work. Mr. Bruce 

 Horsfall has been engaged as chief assistant 

 and artist.. The corps of assistants and 

 workers will be increased as the plans of 

 the Worthington Society develop. 



Our ' Bobs ' 



A few years since, on a Louisiana sugar 

 plantation, a Mockingbird, about a week 

 old, in some way fell from its nest, and 

 would have been a prey for cats had not a 

 bird-lover who had been paying daily visits 

 to the nest found the little fellow who had 

 met with the accident. The bird was 

 brought into the house, and was at once 

 installed as a member of the family, and 

 treated to all the care and attention one 

 would give a baby. A nest was made in 

 the cage, and the yoimg mocker was fed on 

 bread and milk. He soon learned his meal 

 hours, and would peep most lustily for some 

 of his admirers to come and take him out of 



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