The Glory Hole 175 



vious that I could not proceed without seriously wound- 

 ing feelings. I suddenly thought, "See if we can't make a 

 human-interest story out of each one; display the object 

 with its relation to man." A sort of rough classification 

 gradually grew on me. There was a good skylark, and a 

 good wandering albatross. Get a nightingale and set up a 

 display. Label it "These birds have inspired great poetry." 

 Use pictures of the poets, facsimiles of the poems, and some 

 of the most superb verses in boldly typed labels. 



What do domesticated animals teach us beside carving 

 at table? Domestic fowl and the pigeon have been ex- 

 traordinarily plastic in man's hands. Think of the contrast 

 between a Shanghai rooster and a Seabright bantam. The 

 Shanghai and the Langshan are the largest of the so-called 

 Asiatic breeds of fowl, enormous creatures standing over 

 two feet high. The breeds are now out of fashion and 

 almost extinct. Luckily the Museum had some really his- 

 toric fowls. Here was the rooster brought back over a hun- 

 dred years ago, the progenitor of the stock which gave 

 rise to the Rhode Island Red. And I found a wild jungle 

 fowl which could be spared from the collections in Cam- 

 bridge. With the help of my neighbor Harry McKean, 

 I soon had plans for this exhibit well under way. 



Various species of jungle fowl, which look exactly like 

 small game chickens, are found all over southeastern Asia. 

 When you are living in the country where they occur, you 

 seldom see them, but their crowing at morning and evening 

 sometimes becomes a positive nuisance. Now, conversely, 

 although there is no reason to believe that the Aztecs did 

 not hold the turkey in domestication for as long a time as 



