3 The New York Years (1931–1953)

Expeditions to New Guinea and the Solomon Islands 91
(e.g., cooperation with G. Schiermann; literature search and evaluation). Further
plans referred to
(1) a “critical test of the Territory theory (Howard, Nicholson)” in several landscapes
near Berlin,
(2) an “ornithological field manual”,
(3) an article on “Ecological approaches to birdlife”,
(4) “The distribution of birds”,
(5) “Contributions to the ornithology of New Guinea”, and
(6) “Thoughts on the establishment of a zoological (ornithological) research station
in New Guinea on a high mountain range at ca. 1,500 m elevation; one
‘pure’ ornithologist and one entomologically trained ornithologist, duration
2 years; problems to be studied are molt, feeding, breeding biology, ecology:
It is important that the scientists observe during all periods of the year.”
Evidently Mayr’s interests were by no means restricted to systematic research
but comprised a broad spectrum of topics which he planned to pursue through
extensive ecological fieldwork. However, this was not to happen, because a few
months after his return to Berlin he received an invitation to come to the American
Museum of Natural History in New York as a research associate and taxonomist
for one year. This assignment developed into his career as a museum systematist
and evolutionary biologist, but his science included the lessons he had learned in
the field.