EXHIBIT COMPLETED 



BIRDS 



of the 



WORLD 



EMMET R. BLAKE 

 Associate Curator, Birds 



American sun grebe (Heliornis Julica) 



Gray-necked wood rail {Aramidaes cajanea) 



The museum's Synoptic Series of Birds of the World is now 

 complete with the installation of a new exhibit show- 

 ing representative birds of 12 families that comprise the 

 order Gruiformes. This cosmopolitan assemblage of about 

 200 species includes cranes, rails, bustards, and related fam- 

 ilies. Some live on a single island while others have a vir- 

 tually world-wide distribution. All share fundamental 

 morphological characters that indicate a common ancestry, 

 but the several families, and the species of some of the fam- 

 ilies, may be quite different in appearance. 



Rails, which include the gallinules and coots, are the 

 most widely known of the families in this exhibit, as they 

 are virtually cosmopolitan. Eight of the 132 species occur 

 commonly in Illinois, but the local forms inhabit marshes 

 and are very secretive; few Chicagoans other than the most 

 dedicated bird watchers are likely to know them in life. 

 Some rails live in woods or on dry plains; many species are 

 active only at twilight or after dark. Some are highly mi- 

 Page U DECEMBER 



gratory, but many island forms that normally have few 

 natural enemies have lost the power of flight. 



The cranes, a much smaller family with 14 species, in- 

 clude some of the largest birds capable of flight. They re- 

 semble herons superficially in having long legs and necks, 

 but when in flight cranes, unlike herons, hold their necks 

 fully extended. Graceful in the extreme, cranes are often 

 portrayed in art, especially in the Orient. They character- 

 istically perform elaborate and seemingly stylized dancing 

 rituals, usually as part of the courtship ceremonies in spring. 

 One particularly magnificent species, the whooping crane 

 of North America, faces almost certain extinction as the 

 total wild population now numbers only about 30 individuals. 



Several of the bird families represented in the new ex- 

 hibit are endemic to tropical America. Especially note- 

 worthy are the trumpeters, the three species of which live 

 in humid lowland forests and are almost wholly terrestrial. 

 Their calls, sometimes heard at night, include deep-toned, 



