In birds, there is a retinofugal projection from the brain to the retina originating from the isthmo optic nucleus (ION) in the midbrain. Despite a large number of anatomical, physiological and histochemical studies, the function of this retinofugal system remains unclear. Several functions have been proposed including: gaze stabilization, pecking behavior, dark adaptation, shifting attention, ...

Selection of an appropriate species is a key element of effective ecological risk assessments (ERA), especially when site-specific field studies are to be employed. Great blue herons (GBH) possess several ideal characteristics of a receptor species for the assessment of bioaccumulative compounds in the environment, such as ease of study, high potential for exposure, widespread distribution, and...

In The Masks of God, Joseph Campbell recounts a curious phenomenon of animal behavior. Newly hatched chickens, bits of eggshells still clinging to their tails, will dart for cover when a hawk flies overhead; yet they remain unaffected by other birds. Furthermore, a wooden model of a hawk, drawn forward along a wire above their coop, will send them scurrying (if the model is pulled backward, how...

Eggs of neotropic cormorants (Phalacrocorax brasilianus), black-crowned night herons (Nycticorax nycticorax), and great egrets (Ardea alba) nesting on several locations in Galveston Bay (TX, USA) and at two control sites outside the bay were collected during April-May 1996 and analyzed for chlorinated pesticides, PCBs, polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins, and polychlorinated dibenzofurans. Additi...

Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) is a zoonotic pathogen transmitted by the infectious bite of Culex mosquitoes. The virus causes the development of the disease Japanese encephalitis (JE) in a small proportion of those infected, predominantly affecting children in eastern and southern Asia. Annual JE incidence estimates range from 50,000-175,000, with 25%-30% of cases resulting in mortality. It...

To the Editor: Japanese encephal-itis (JE) is an endemic flavivirus disease in Asia. The JE virus (JEV) is one of the leading causes of viral encephalitis: 35,000–50,000 cases occur every year (1). While most infections are subclinical, the disease has a high case-fatality rate (≈25%) and considerable incidence of serious neurologic sequelae with the development of overt meningoencephalitis (1)...

At the invitation of the Delaware Valley Ornithological Club, the New Jersey Audubon Society, and the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, the Fifty-third Annual Meeting of the Wilson Ornithological Society was held at Cape May, New Jersey, from Thursday 15 June, through Sunday, 18 June 1972. Early arrivals at Cape May were invited to a reception at the Wetlands Institute on the causewa...

For predicting median date or incidence rate in the prevalence of japanese encephalitis, the authors considered the 34 factors; namely, the climate, latitude, longitude, and date showing immunological positivity of hemoagglutination inhibiting reaction on 50% the number of swine, etc. To make the mean square residual the smallest which yields, in the case of calculating with the multiple regres...

Cause Chlamydiosis refers to an infection with organisms of the genus Chlamydia sp., which are bacteria that live within animal cells. Chlamydia psittaci is the species generally associated with this disease in birds. The severity of the disease differs by the strain of C. psittaci and the susceptibility of different species of birds. As a result, chlamydiosis may range from an inapparent infec...

For the purpose of forecasting the prevalence ofJapanese encephalitis in Japan, we tried to find out the correlation of factors between median and mode dates of epidemic time curve of prevalence on one hand, and average atmospheric temperatures of prefectures in June and July (T6,7 in short) (X), the time when HI reaction of swine became positive to the degree of 50 per cent (D. pos. swine in s...