MUSEUM BULLETIN 



OF THE 



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EDITED FOR THE PUBLICATION COMMITTEE 



BY CHARLES LOUIS POLLARD, CURATOR-IN-CHIEF 

 No. 50. Published Monthly at New Brighton, N.Y. SEPTEMBER, 1912. 



We hope to annonnce in the next issue of the Bulletin the tentative « 

 schedule of school lectures to be given in the museum during the coming 

 season. It is probable that the lectures will begin during the latter half of 

 October, and will continue to April. In addition to the Friday afternoon 

 courses for upper grade pupils a course for high school students and one 

 for children in the primary grade is in contemplation. 



A blackboard has been purchased for the assembly hall, as a further 

 aid in illustrating the lectures. 



During the current year the city has been installing a uniform system 

 of bookkeeping, not only in all its own departments, but in all institutions re- 

 ceiving and dispensing municipal budget appropriations. Owing to the 

 courtesy of the experts assigned to our accounts, the system was installed 

 in the museum during the past summer without great difficulty or loss of 

 time, and is now operating smoothly. It is believed that a large sum will 

 be saved to the city annually by the the use of the same blanks, ledgers, 

 etc., in all departments, and by the greater facility in handling separate 

 accounts. 



The Museum's experiences with living birds have been most discourag- 

 ing on the whole, due probably to several contributing causes, chief among 

 which are lack of space, difficulty of procuring proper food and injury to 

 the specimen before its capture. A Maryland yellowthroat flew against 

 a plate-glass window at Great Kills in the fall of 1911, but seemed to be un- 

 harmed and was taken to the museum. It was apparently contented, and 

 ate flies that were put into its cage, but neverless died within a few hours. 

 A screech owl captured in West New Brighton during the coldest part of 

 the winter of 1911-1912 remained bright and active for two or three days 

 but refused to eat the raw meat that was offered him and presently appear- 

 ed as a mounted specimen in the local biology room. 



Two clapper rails or marsh hens were found in the snow-covered 

 salt marshes of the Long Beach reigon of Long Island on January 28, 1912, 

 fully three months after the last of their kind should have departed for the 

 south. For some reason they had failed to migrate and exposure and lack 

 of food had rendered them almost helpless. One of these birds was placed 

 in the cage with the turtles in the general biology room and became so bold 

 as to take mealworms from the hand without hesitation. He often preened 

 himself, occasionally stood sleeping with his head under a wing and even 

 felt so much like himself that he made the whole museum resound with 

 his long rolling call— a typical sound of the marshes. Yet within twenty- 

 four hours, or three days after his capture, the bird died. On August 23, 

 1912, a Carolina rail or sora was found floating about at the mercy of the tide 

 at Seguine's Point. One wing was badly broken and had to be amputated 

 but in spite of his injury he seemed at ease and made himself at home in the 

 turtle inclosure, standing at times on the turtles' backs as if they were so 

 many rocks. He was less forward about approaching the hand for food but 

 finally became tame enough to eat earthworms from the fingers. On the 

 fifth day a green heron arrived (having a slightly injured right wing) and 

 was turned loose in the cage with the rail. The latter seemed not to his 

 liking and was dealt a vicious blow on top of the head with the heron's 

 sword-like beak. Whether from this cause or not we cannot tell, but the 

 rail died the following day. The heron was as wild and untamable as one 

 might expect, and survived but three days, making only a feeble effort to 

 devour some morsels of fish, his favorite food. 



Accessions during August were received from the following: E. Chesley 

 Allen, C. P. Benedict, N. P. Bevin, H. H. Cleaves, Duncan Cushman, Jacob 

 Doll, W. W. Grant, G. K. Noble, Frank Watson. 



Eiterel as s^oni-olass mitterin the Postoffhe at Naw Brighton, N. Y., under Act of Congress of July 16. 1894 



