26 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1913. 



collection made in 1909 and 1910 by the Smithsonian African Expedi- 

 tion under the direction of Col. Theodore Roosevelt. 



In wall cases partly surrounding the above exhibits is shown a great 

 variety of selected tyj^es of African antelopes, besides representatives 

 of other groups, includmg a young African elephant and a fine speci- 

 men of the nearly extinct BurcheU's zebra. The following are dis- 

 played separately, namely, a group of horse-tail monkeys from 

 Kilimanjaro, represented as playing among the foliage of a large tree; 

 a very large giraffe, too tall to be inclosed in glass; and a well- 

 preserved example of the recently discovered and very rare okapi, a 

 near relative of the giraffe and an inhabitant of the impenetrable 

 forests of the Belgian Congo. 



Birds. — The exhibition of birds begins in the north aisle of the 

 west wing on the main floor, of which it occupies a length of about 

 92 feet, and is continued thence into and throughout the western 

 section of the west range a distance of 131 feet 4 inches, covering a 

 total floor area of 9,652 square feet. The whig contams the pale- 

 arctic, the oriental, and the African faunas. In the first mentioned 

 are such familiar European forms as the stork, lammergeier, bus- 

 tard, nightingale, true robin, true oriole, capercailzie, black grouse, 

 true partridge, and quail. A pair of Enghsh song thrushes with 

 their nest fuU of yomig constitutes a dainty piece of group-making, 

 and conspicuous in the series is a beautiful display of the various 

 Asiatic pheasants. Among the oriental birds are the grotesque 

 Indian " adj.utant," the wUd peacock, the wild jungle fowl, from which 

 our domestic breeds are supposed to have been derived, various horn- 

 bills, which are among the most characteristic of oriental birds, and 

 two showy groups, one of the rhinoceros bird, the other of the argus 

 pheasant. In the African series, which is as remarkable as the 

 oriental, are seen the diminutive love birds, the whydah finches 

 with their long, flowing tail feathers, the weaver birds, gorgeous 

 rollers, many parrots, the plantain eaters, the emerald cuckoos, the 

 sunbirds, a goatsucker with two remarkable appendages, wild 

 Guinea fowl, the crowned crane, the saddle-biUed stork, and the 

 sacred ibis. A bird rarely seen in museums, the large whale-headed 

 stork, which inhabits solely the country of the Upper Nile, is repre- 

 sented by two exceptionally fine specimens. 



Entering the west range, one comes first upon the Australasian 

 series, which contains a great variety of splendidly colored birds. 

 Especially notable is a fine display of birds of paradise and of parrots. 

 Among other forms shown are the giant kingfisher, known as the 

 "laughing-jackass," the brush turkey, which places its eggs in 

 mounds of soil and decaying vegetation to be hatched without further 

 attention from the parents, the wonderful "crowned" pigeons from 

 New Guinea, the black swan, the cassowary, the emu, the kiwis of 



