ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 



1409 



enormously long body would appear like an im- 

 possible development from the tiny pupa in its 

 spherical cocoon. 



At the time of emergence, the perfect insect 

 adopts a curious method to protect its gauzy 

 wings from injury in the sand. The cocoon is 

 buried in the sand several inches, and as the 

 imago breaks through, it thrusts its limbs out- 

 side of the cocoon in such a manner as to slowly 

 drag it to the surface, then slightly above it. It 

 then issues from the top of the silken sphere 

 without danger of a blemish. Its life is short 

 as a creature of the air, and eggs are soon laid 

 which in turn hatch and produce the blood- 

 thirstv little insects of the craters. And they 

 in turn transform to lay eggs by late summer or 

 fall; for there appears to be two broods of 

 southern species. 



The reader may be interested to note that all 

 of the illustrations showing the habits and trans- 

 formation of the ant-lion are from enlarge- 

 ments made from motion picture films. Besides 

 the written history of this insect, the writer pre- 

 served the entire story in motion pictures. 



Sentencing the Hawks. — Among American 

 ornithologists and bird lovers in general, there 

 is much discussion as to the proper attitude that 

 should be assumed toward the Cooper and 

 sharjD-shinned hawks. As recorded in the pre- 

 ceding number of the Bulletin^ these avian 

 scourges feed almost entirely on small birds. 

 This fact has prompted many persons to de- 

 nounce their crimes and demand their exter- 

 mination, and influenced others to defend them 

 on the basis that by killing off the surplus they 

 help to maintain a proper balance in nature. 



While we agree with the sentiment that no 

 form of life should be completely exhausted, we 

 do not believe in the existence of such a surplus 

 of songbirds that it should require removal. Be- 

 fore the advent of man, the depredations of the 

 natural enemies of bird life were of little con- 

 sequence. Now, however, when the conditions 

 are so adverse to their rapid increase, that it 

 has become necessary to exert every effort to 

 aid them, we think that bird-killing hawks have 

 outlived their usefulness. Sharp-shinned and 

 Cooper hawks are very abundant in the vicinity 

 of the Zoological Park, and hardly a day passes 

 that does not bring some evidence of their 

 rapacity. 



A young Cooper hawk was presented recently 

 to the Park, and accompanying the bird was an 

 illuminating letter from the donor, Mr. J. F. 

 Paull, of Wheeling, West Virginia. Having se- 

 cured the young bird, Mr. Paull states that he 



placed it in a cage near the nest., "The first 

 day, the old birds brought a young chicken, a 

 mouse, a catbird, a sparrow and a meadow 

 lark, possibly more, which they ate" . . . . 

 "The other hawk the next da}^ brought another 

 young chicken, a flicker and a ground squirrel." 

 Needless to say, the efforts of these particular 

 birds to remove the surplus have been discour- 

 aged.— L. s. c. 



BREEDING CRANES. 



In 1910, we secured from the captain of a 

 tramp steamer, a number of rare cranes, that 

 he had brought direct from Japan. These birds, 

 being of hardy species, were placed at once in 

 a corral adjoining the present Yak House, 

 where they have remained ever since. Later on 

 the corrals were rearranged and subdivided, so 

 that it was found necessary to separate the 

 flock, and an unusually fine pair of Japanese 

 white-necked cranes, (Pseudogeranus leiicau- 

 chen), was placed in one of the most desirable 

 paddocks. For several years, there was no sign 

 of mating, but in the spring of 1916, the female 

 flattened a circle of grass in one corner of the 

 enclosure, laid two eggs, and hatched two 

 healthy chicks. Unfortunately, the existence of 

 the nest was not discovered until it was too late 

 to determine the period of incubation. One was 

 killed by accident, but the survivor grew rap- 

 idly and now is nearly as large as his parents. 



When first hatched, the cranelings were 

 clothed in bright cinnamon, with pale green 

 beak and legs. The tawny down has been re- 

 placed b}^ feathers of the same hue, contrasting 

 strangely with the gray plumage of the par- 

 ents. This species, or, in fact, any other of the 

 larger cranes, has not previously been reared in 

 captivity in this country. — L. S. C. 



The black-footed penguins, which success- 

 fully reared a young bird last year, hatched two 

 lusty youngsters early last May. Both grew 

 rapidly and were thriving, when the too-confi- 

 dent parents failed to cover them one chilly 

 night, and both succumbed to the cold. The 

 other two penguins, which are of doubtful sex, 

 laid twice and incubated faithfully, but the 

 eggs failed to hatch. These birds acted through- 

 out like a properly-mated pair, but nevertheless 

 we suspect that both are females. Observations 

 of the nesting habits of these two couples ^yield- 

 ed much interesting data, which will form the 

 basis for a future number of Zoologica.—L. S. C. 



