1388 



ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 



AN IMMATURE WOOD IBIS 

 He might have been saved 



ITEMS OF INTEREST. 



Avian Castaways. — Gulls, petrels, gannets 

 and other sea birds are a refreshing sight at sea 

 to break the monotony of the otherwise barren 

 air. Perfectly at home on the water or flying, 

 they derive their food and drink from the sea. 

 Land birds blown to sea at night during migra- 

 tion and alighting upon a steamer for succor 

 from the waste of water give rise to entirely 

 different emotions. The bewildered birds for- 

 get their fear of man as a rule, and will suffer 

 themselves to be closely approached. Little 

 warblers flit about the decks and rigging seek- 

 ing insects that have been blown to sea by the 

 same wind that took them out of their course. 



Their fate is generally the same, however ; a 

 few sips of salt water that remains in puddles 

 after the sailors have washed down the decks 

 cause their wings to droop, they become less 

 active, and either fall an easy prey to the ship's 

 cat, or crumple up into pitiful little puffs of 

 feathers and die. Larger birds, such as hawks, 

 generally alight upon the wireless antennae and 

 will ride sometimes for two days until their 

 keen eyes detect land. 



The onh^ bird that I have noticed show any 

 hesitancy about alighting was a barn swallow. 

 Again I saw a bat far at sea. He paid no at- 

 tention to the ship, but bore straight on, hope- 

 lessly unorientated. Among the birds that I 



have seen aboard coastwise vessels are the king- 

 fisher, robin, redstart, yellowthroat, great blue 

 heron, purple martin, mourning dove, osprey 

 and various hawks. 



The little castaways appeal to me as pecu- 

 liarly pathetic, and I always place fresh water 

 where they can get it; but it is doubtful if they 

 are ever saved to find their way ashore. The 

 immature wood ibis in the accompanying cut 

 might have been saved, as we came within sight 

 of land the day following his advent, but he 

 was very guileless and besides the sailors enjoy 

 stewed "crane." — C. G. 



Collecting Reptiles. — The Curator of Rep- 

 tiles has returned from a trip to the low 

 grounds bordering the Savannah River, Georgia, 

 spending fourteen days in collecting work. 

 Five hundred and sixty reptiles were caught, 

 crated and successfully shipped to New York 

 without losses of any kind. Turtles, tortoises, 

 lizards, snakes and batrachians were repre- 

 sented in the shipment, to the number of forty- 

 seven species, and the total net weight of the 

 specimens collected was slightly over five hun- 

 dred pounds. There was a particular neces- 

 sity for this trip, owing to the fact that our 

 supply of Old World reptiles stopped abso- 

 lutely, at the beginning of the war. In addi- 

 tion to the specimens that were obtained, the 

 southern trip also yielded photographs and 

 scientific observations. 



A TINY CASTAWAY 

 A little warbler far out at sea 



