690 ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN. 
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN. — ated. They are vicious and pugnacious, besides 
: F devouring the young and eggs of other species. 
ELWIN R. SANBORN, EpiTor. a 5 . . 
Bevactnvite: Like the cuckoo, they seldom build their own 
en ae ap. EEE SABE nests, but preter to eject the eggs of other birds 
GRIT ae and take possession of their building. 
C. H. TOWNSEND, Sc. D, RAYMOND L, Ditmars. 
Published Bi-Monthly at the Office of the Society, 
11 Wall Street, New York City. 
Single Numbers, 10 Cents; Yearly, 70 Cents. 
MAILED FREE TO MEMBERS. 
Copyright, 1910, by the New York Zoological Society. 
Numper 41 SEPTEMBER, 1910 
Officers of the Society. 
President - 
HENRY FAIRFIELD OSBORN. 
Executive Committee - 
MADISON GRANT, Chairman, 
JOHN S. BARNES, SAMUEL THORNE, WILLIAM WHITE NILEs, 
Percy R. Pyne, LEvI P. Morton, Wm. PImERSON HAMILTON, 
FRANK K. STURGIS. 
HENRY FAIRFIELD OSBORN, Ex-Officio. 
General Officers - 
Secretary, MADISON GRANT, 11 WALL STREET. 
Treasurer, PERCY R. PYNE, 30 PINE STREET. 
Director, WILLIAM T. HORNADAY, Sc.D., ZOOLOGICAL PARK. 
Director of the Aquarium, CHARLES H. TOWNSEND Sc.D., BATTERY PARK. 
Board of Managers - 
Ex-Officio 
The Mayor of the City of New York - 
The President of the Department of Parks, 
Glass of 1911. Glass of 1912. 
Henry F. Osborn, Levi P. Morton, F. Augustus Schermerhorn, 
William C. Church, Andrew Carnegie, Percy R. Pyne, 
Lispenard Stewart, John L. Cadwalader, George B. Grinnell, 
H. Casimir de Rham, John S. Barnes, Jacob H. Schiff, 
Hugh D. Auchincloss, Madison Grant, George C. Clark, 
Charles F. Dieterich, | William White Niles, Cleveland H. Dodge, 
James J. Hill, Samuei Thorne, C. Ledyard Blair, 
George F. Baker, Henry A. C. Taylor, Frederick G. Bourne, 
Grant B. Schley, Hugh J. Chisholm, W. Austin Wadsworth, 
James W. Barney, Frank K. Sturgis, Emerson McMillin, 
Wm. PiersonHamilton, George J. Gould, Anthony R. Kuser 
Robert S. Brewster Ogden Mills 
Officers of the Zoolagical Park : 
W. T. HorNADAY, Sc. D., Director. 
H. R. MircHeLL - - - - Chief Clerk and Disbursing Officer. 
RAYMOND L, DITMARS - - Curator of Reptiles. 
C, WILLIAM BEEBE - - Curator of Birds. 
W. Rew Buair, D.V.S. Veterinarian and Pathologist. 
H. W. MERKEL - - = Chief Forester and Constructor. 
ELWIN R. SANBORN - Editor and Photographer. 
G. M. BEERBOWER - Civil Engineer. 
W. I. MITCHELL - - Office Assistant. 
Hon. WILLIAM J. GAYNOR 
HON. CHARLEs B. STOVER 
Glass of 1913. 
Officers of the Aquartum 
CHARLES H. TOWNSEND, Sc.D., Director. 
RAYMOND C. OSBURN, Ph.D. Assistant Director. 
W. I. DEN - - In Charge of Collections. 
A FEATHERED PESTILENCE ABROAD. 
In the Apia Samoanische Zeitung, Mr. Mason 
Mitchell, American Consul and a life member of the 
Zoological Society, publishes a very interesting article 
under the caption “A Pest in Samoa.” From it, 
which we reproduce entire herewith, it appears that 
in comparison with the mynah our English sparrow 
is a veritable dove of peace. The inference,—be- 
ware of the mynah!—Ep. 
Sometime since, a cage of mynah birds (Acri- 
dotheres tristris) was brought to Apia. The 
party who landed the birds was undoubtedly 
ignorant of their habits, and the consequences 
of his act, as they were soon afterwards liber- 
Honolulu at the present day is bereft to a 
great extent of its beautiful song and perching 
birds, owing to the introduction of the mynahs. 
Mr. Rothschilds in his ornithological work, 
Vol. HII of the “Avifauna of Laysan,”’ page 
300, states that the mynah “kills and eats the 
young and eggs of small birds.” 
More recently still Mr. Perkins (Ibis for Oc- 
tober, 1901) affirms that the mynah “not only 
attacks and drives away other birds, but also 
devours their eggs and young.” He adds fur- 
ther (p. 580) that he has himself seen the 
mynah “devouring both young and eggs of other 
species.” 
Such evidence is conclusive, and establishes 
the habits of the bird. In addition, in China I 
have seen them attack smaller birds, and what 
they have done in other lands will doubtless re- 
occur here. 
In Samoa we have many beautiful specimens 
in the avifauna of the forty-nine known species 
that inhabit or visit these islands. Among them 
the crimson-headed honey-sucker (Sega 
segamau'u), and the iao, another species of the 
same family; the painted pigeons, manutagi 
and manuma, also the beautiful little loriquet of 
the parrot tribe (Sega samoa). These and 
others will be driven from the Island or de- 
voured unless the mynah is exterminated. There 
are but few at present, and found in the bush 
back of the German Firm, but it is hoped that 
both whites and natives will kill them whenever 
opportunity offers, for the mynah is a wary bird 
and the traps or poison that have been tried in 
the Hawaiian Islands were of no avail. They 
multiplied with rapidity, and to-day overrun 
that country. 
They are of brownish color and may be easily 
recognized by the white patches on the tips of 
the wings. Head and neck blackish, a bare 
spot of yellow behind the eye, wings barred 
with white, under parts and under tail-coverts 
white, bill yellow. Length about nine inches. 
The mynah comes originally from India, and 
belongs to the starling family. 
Mason Mircue tt. 
are 
PROTECTION OF BIRDS IN NATAL. 
We are informed that the Government of 
Natal issued on May 28 last a proclamation 
amending the Act of 1896 for the protection of 
