Evening star., 1927-11-18
DEER WS|TSFARM
FOR DAILY BOTTLE
Animal Leaves Wild Park to
Get Milk and FroIic, 0rni-
biologists Told.

A deer. more than a year old, which
lives with wild herd. but which
comes TO n New England farmhouse
three times a day for bottle or
warm milk. was described to members
Of the American OrnithoiogistS Union
Yesterday by Norman McClintock OF
Pittsburgh. -,
Mc,-lintock showed remarkable wild
life moving pictures taken on a coun-
try estate in northwestern Connectl-
cut, where approximately 1900 acres
have been provided as a preserve LOT
birds and animals.
This one deer, he said, was the OUT,
standing animal on the estate. 1t had
been rescued when only two or three
davs old after it's mother was Killed
and taken to the farmhouse. Here
II was fed from a large-sized nursery
hottie. When it was old enough TO
turn loose. it was set free in the
woods and joined the other deer.
Insists on Warm Milk.
Rut in a few days it came back to
the farmhouse. calling for Its mix
bottle. and has repeated this proce,
6nra every day since then. 1t Will
walk I'D the front steps into the hVihs
,,oorn and frolics on the floor with
The children. 1t proceeds TO ralse
rumpus if cold milk IS given II:
But its daily life is spent with lne
herd. All the other deer on the estate
are rather shy. t.or~oor
. song sparrow was exhibited which
was found dead. a prisoner IN
snider,s web. last week by John b.
Samnle and Vernon Bailey OF the BIO
logical Survey.
II cannot he supposed, it was ex'
nlained. that the bird actually was
iponrisoned deliberately by the spider
as if it had been a fly, but 1t must
have stumbled into an eXceptlohally
strong web when in weakened con-
dition. 1t is not uncommon, ornllnoio-
gists said, for some troplcal SPIDERS
to weave webs strong enough 10 noiu
birds, but American spiders seldom
do SO.
s. Prentiss Baldwin of Cleveland,
Ohio. described some original methods
of bird research followed on MS
farm.
Life of Wren Studied.
Mr.. Baldwin and his assistants are
making a special study or the mouse
wren and have found that they can
move nests, eggs and young pros
almost at random without disturbing
their wild life. They also can rig up
in the nests all sorts OF delicate elec-
trical recording apparatus. whlcn
records every movement of the blros
on charts in the nearby laboratory.
Fine wire thermo-couples are piaced
directly over the eggs and connected
with the laboratory, giving minute
by-minute record of the variations IN
temperature during the incubation
period. Other instruments tell how
many times the birds enter and leave
the nests.
Among the studies made is that of
the loss of weight in the egg between
the time it is laid and the time the
Young bird is Matched. This loss OF
weight results when the egg gives off
moisture and carbon-dioxide. The pur'
pose to the study is to determine now
soon the embryo bird becomes hV-
ing creature, breathing oxygen ana
expelling carbon-d -dioxide.
In other experiments very delicate
thermo.couples are stuck down the
Young birds throat to ascertain the
variations in internal temperature.
All these experiments must be carried
on without frightening or hurting the
bird. as either of these contingencies
would ruin the results. The methods
have been reached only after years OF
practice in handling birds.
Claude w. Leister Of ithaca. N. T.
showed movinss pictures of one OF the
three great gannett colonies now left
in North America, on Bonaventure
Island in the Gulf of st. Lawrence,
where the rocks are white with the
multitudes Of these water birds. Mr..
Leister spent days on the island
watching the birds and trying to get
them in characteristic poses.
Never Make Mistakes.
A curious feature Of gannett life. he
showed. was the unerring instinct
which enables each bird to descend
either directly on it's own nest or
within a few inches of it. With thou
sands of nests on cliff the bird never
makes a mistake. If it fails to hit its
own nest it is pecked at unmercifully
by the other birds which it must pass
on the ground to reach its own par
ticular Granny.
The gannett, he showed, is an ex-
tremely clumsy bird on the ground,
but very graceful as flyer. 1t can
stay in the air for long time ap-
parently without moving its wings,