flutes from Jfl'elh attn 5am?
A Station (or the Study ol Bird Life
Articles or Incorporation have just been drawn looking to the establishment, on a permanent foundation, of the " Worthington Society for the Investigation of Bird Life." The founder, Mr. Charles C. Worthington. will erect and endow. Shawnee, Monroe County, Pennsylvania,
on his estate at
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 oi the chiet 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 or observation carried through the entire lite oi the individual. 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.
11. The study of the occurrence, extent, nature and cause of variations in diflerent representatives of the same species.
111. 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 eflected by a new environs ment or a new set of conditions?
V. Heredity. \Vhat general character- istics are transmitted? Are acquired char- acteristics transmitted P The consideration ol atavisln, prepotency and telegony.
VI. Experiments in breeding. Hybridity and the fertility ot 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- mus and other beneficial kinds of birds, to re-stock a given region or to increase native birdsI 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 ol the Department of Ornie thology at Princeton University, as Direc- tor ot 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 I 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 young mocker was fed on bread and milk. He soon learned his meal hours, anti would peep most lustin for some of his admirers to come and take him out of
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