180 Naturalist at Large 



Museum of Natural History in London, of dogs at Yale, 

 and a fair synoptic collection in Cambridge. 



A good many dyed plumes of birds of paradise seized 

 in the Customhouse and turned over to the Peabody Mu- 

 seum for exhibition recalls the trade in birds of paradise. 

 When the Dutch and Portuguese first arrived in the Moluc- 

 cas, they found some of the Malay sultans receiving dried 

 skins of birds of paradise as tribute from Papuan tribes 

 of savages who owed them suzerainty. These skins were 

 legless, and the notion grew that the birds spent their lives 

 flying in the air and admiring the sun. During the last 

 years of the last century and the first decade of this the 

 number of birds of paradise which were garnered from 

 the western part of New Guinea and the Aru Islands was 

 stupendous. Queen Wilhelmina stopped the slaughter some 

 years ago. But birds of paradise were still abundant, even 

 considering the enormous numbers killed for trade, because 

 the females were so inconspicuous and so utterly unlike 

 the males that they were never disturbed and all the species 

 are highly polygamous. 



And so, to my great surprise, I find myself at last en- 

 gaged in building up an entirely new type of museum. 

 There will be many objects displayed beside the ones which 

 I have indicated. I believe that with thoughtful labeling 

 some zoology, some history, some folklore, and some poetry 

 may be taught in a very attractive way. And I wish we 

 could find a good name for our innovation. I can think 

 only of "Museum of Ethnozoology," which sounds utterly 

 loathsome. 



