Large Aviary Research Articles

“NONSENSE” ORIENTATION AS A POPULATION VARIANT

Summary.Using 2,570 Mallard, the “nonsense” orientations of two largely separate stocks are compared. Slimbridge birds head off predominately northwestwards throughout the season. Birds caught at Peakirk showed a similar orientation during the early autumn, but during the winter scattered virtually at random, yet without behaving as if disorientated.A sample of 188 Mallard from London orientated in southerly directions both in autumn and spring, yet could not be responsible for the change at Peakirk because they would not disperse so far. 180 young Mallard from Slimbridge and London stocks were reared in large aviaries. Their first flights were too abbreviated for conclusive results but differences between the stocks were indicated and it is possible that “nonsense” orientations are not learned responses to the local topography.Ringing recoveries show that the timing of the arrival of immigrants from the Continent coincides with changes in orientation at Peakirk and that their distribution is such that it could explain the different results at Slimbridge. Preliminary releases of Swedish‐caught Mallard strongly support the argument.The implications for the study of bird navigation are briefly discussed.

Display Patterns of Tropical American "Nine-Primaried" Songbirds II. Some Species of Ramphocelus

Crimson-backed Tanagers are common in many areas of second-growth forest and scrub in central and eastern Panama. Some aspects of their behavior in some of these areas, including their general social and nesting habits, have been described in previous publications (e.g., Skutch, 1954, and Moynihan, 1962a). The following account of their display patterns is based upon observations of both wild and captive birds. Many individuals were observed in the wild, under more or less natural conditions, in the Canal Zone and adjacent parts of the Republic of Panama between January 1958, and January 1961. A few individuals were kept in captivity in large aviaries planted with natural vegetation on Barro Colorado Island during part of the same period. These captive birds had been trapped in various areas near Panama City. According to Hellmayr (1936), all of these birds are doubtless assignable to the subspecies isthmicus. The observed display patterns of Crimson-backed Tanagers include locomotory, gregarious, hostile, and sexual reactions of adult and juvenile birds, and a few vocal patterns of nestlings. Adult male and female Crimson-backed Tanagers are easily distinguished by differences in plumage and bill color. Juvenile birds of both sexes are similar to adult females, but can often be recognized by their duller plumage and other indications of immaturity (e.g., shorter wings and tail, and a trace of yellow at the gape).

Über die Großgefieder-Mauser von Schleiereule und Waldkauz

Two Barnowls(Tyto alba), born in June 1957, were kept in a large aviary for several years. The process of wing and tail moult was closely followed and proved to be very complicated.

Samuel Roslington Milner, 1875-1958

S. R. Milner was born in Dodsworth, a village near Barnsley, Yorkshire, on 22 August 1875. His father, Samuel Wilkinson Milner, was an agent, or ‘factor’ for certain collieries in that district; he married a Miss Ann Roslington and founded a family of four daughters, and one son, the youngest child. During Milner’s infancy the family removed to Retford on the borders of Sherwood Forest and in due time the boy was entered at the Retford Grammar School, a small but ancient Edward Vlth foundation. Here, by good fortune, the headmaster, though irascible, was interested in science and able to take an interest in a boy of scientific tendencies. He awarded him a Headmaster’s Prize of a microscope for he had become a keen naturalist. But Milner’s mind soon turned to physical science, and the headmaster, seeing that the boy had already out-distanced all the others, provided him with physics textbooks and a quiet room where he could be alone and read and devour their contents. A science class of one pupil, without a master. He was not greatly interested in games but he was a powerful swimmer, and a great walker, exploring the forest, tree climbing and bird’s-nesting. Indeed his interest in birds became so great that he built quite a large aviary in the back yard of his parents’ home.

A Collecting Trip by Wagon to Eagle Lake, Sierra Nevada Mountains

ON the morning of June 5, 1905, in company with Jim and Stanley Taylor, both enthusiasts in bird-study, I started from Marin County equipped for a three months trip by wagon to Eagle Lake, California. We purposed to collect some of the birds of the Lake and intervening region, and at the same time to enjoy the wilderness that abounds in the northern counties of California. We had a trip of four hundred miles before us, a trip which proved to be one of the roughest we had ever experienced. A tedious fourteen hours of navigation up the Sacramento River brought us to the capitol city at 4 A. M. We were soon beyond the outskirts of Sacramento and into the big wheat fields of the valley, where after not more than three miles of travel we took our first specimen, a young Yellow-billed Magpie. Having secured a permit from the Fish Commissioners we were not so wary of being molested by the don't shoot here property owners, that were numerous enough along the county roads of the valley. From the second day on we began to take notes, and the long evenings were spent in putting up skins of birds we had anticipated putting in our cabinets. On the fourth day, after traveling thru the intense heat of the valley, we arrived at a beautiful spot at the base of the table mountains, the commencement of the Sierras. Here bird-life was at its height. It seemed like entering a large aviary as we walked thru the thick foliage that grew on either side of the creek. Tree Swallows, Kingbirds, Chats, Gnatcatchers, Woodpeckers, Vireos and others were all nesting in numbers; most nests found either contained young, or eggs advanced in incubation. The thickets of blackberry vines and thistles seemed to be there but for the purpose of a building-site for the Russet-backed Thrush and the Chat. The latter's pleasing whistle was ever to be heard, and above the din, from the throats of the numerous other birds, we would intently listen, at long intervals, to the melodious notes of the California Cuckoo.

Parrakeets. A Handbook to the Imported Species

MR. SETH-SMITH'S valuable monograph of the imported species of parrakeets is now complete, and forms a handsome, well-proportioned volume. Scientifically speaking, there is no distinction between a “parrot” and a “parrakeet,” the latter word being merely a popular term used for the smaller parrots. It cannot be applied to any particular family, or to those species with long or short tails. The title of this work must therefore be interpreted in the sense in which it is generally used by aviculturists. The work treats of about 130 species belonging to the families Loriidæ, Cacatuidæ, and Psittacidæ (subfamilies Nasiterninæ, Conurinæ, Palæornithinæ, and Platycercinæ). No less than thirty-three species are represented on the beautifully executed coloured plates, and there are more than a score of illustrations in the text, chiefly illustrating the nesting and other habits. Moreover, the author has been careful to indicate the work or works in which a coloured illustration of those species not figured by him may be found. Full and most useful directions as to feeding and managing the different species are given, as well as for breeding those species which have reared, or are likely to rear, their young with us. It is also pointed out which species are most suitable for large aviaries, arid which are more adapted for smaller cages. The whole book throughout is most readable and instructive. For as well as all worth reproduction which has been written about the different species in captivity, the author has collected from the folios of Gould, Mr. A. J. Campbell's “Nests and Eggs of Australian Birds,” Dr. Mivart's “Monograph of the Loriidæ,” and many other works a great deal that has been written about the life-history and habits of the birds in a wild state, so that his work forms an excellent history of these beautiful birds, and is alike interesting to the field naturalist and the aviculturist.

Imitation or “Instinct” by a Male Thrush?

ON the evening of July 19 a young thrush was caught in my conservatory and placed in a large outside aviary. The following morning I observed the parent birds feeding the young one through the bars with worms. In the same aviary there had been for more than ten years a male thrush which had been captured when quite young and had never been mated or troubled with family cares. On observing the parents of the young bird feeding their offspring he at once followed their example. On putting some bread and milk into the aviary he flew down, took up a piece and tried to induce the young bird to open its beak. At first the young thrush appeared to be afraid of accepting food from the foster-father, but after some persuasion it allowed itself to be fed with bread and milk, hemp seed, and other food. The parent birds were watching from the outside, and during the whole time occupied by the old male in feeding their progeny were also trying to introduce food through the bars. The day after (July 21) the parent birds did not make any further attempt to introduce food, but contented themselves by watching their young one from a tree close at hand. If any of the house-cats approached the aviary the parents would at once give the alarm. In the course of another day or two they abandoned the young one entirely to the care of the old foster-father, who has proved quite worthy of his trust, as the young bird is now able to feed himself and is in a very thriving condition. The old male still insists, however, on giving it any delicate morsel he may find. This observation appeared to me to be of sufficient interest to record in your columns, as the old male bird certainly in this case learnt how to feed the young one by observing the proceedings of the parent birds. He had never reared any young ones of his own, and had never had any opportunity of seeing other families brought up in the aviary.