558 childrfn's room in Smithsonian institution. 



dinal and the pretty })luebird, whose color is like a bit of sky. The 

 child is glad to see that of the poetical quotations, and a number of 

 these are in various cases, there is a special one for the bluebird — 

 the pretty lines by Eben Rexford: 



Hear it again aliove us, 



And see what a flutter of wings; 

 The bluebird knows it is April, 



And soars to the sun and sings. 



In the case next to this are ''Birds with Curious Nests and Eggs.'' 

 The heart of the small observer finds great joy in this case. The 

 smallest and largest eggs in the world, those of the humming bird and 

 the giant ostrich, ov ^Epyornis^ of Madagascar, who no longer lives, 

 but whose eggs, that were more than a foot in length, are still to be 

 discovered. 



The child ponders long over these eggs. The card tells him that 

 the u^Epyornis and the great roc of his storj'books are believed to be 

 the same bird. He wonders how many times larger the big Q,g<y is 

 than the little one. If he asks, as I did, he will be told that it is 

 about thirt}^ thousand times as big, and he will picture to himself the 

 great bird, as tall as a tree, sweeping over the sands with furlong 

 strides. 



Within this case, too, are other curious eggs, large and small, includ- 

 ing those of the eagle, the ostrich, and the great moa of New Zealand, 

 while among the curious nests the child sees the homes of the hang- 

 bird, the weaver bird, and the tailor bird. Much and long he wonders 

 how these clever house builders wound in and out the threads and 

 fibers of their marvelously built homes. But just below there is a 

 nest with eggs. It is not a curious nest, l)ut built in a curious place — 

 in a skull, in fact, and it is the nest of the tiny house wren. 



And now beyond these come the " water birds'" — the great albatross, 

 which perhaps the child remembers as having been shot by the Ancient 

 Mariner; the king penguin of the far white south, the white egret, 

 hunted for his rare plumage, and the scarlet ibis, whose flaming feath- 

 ers make him a shining mark for death. 



The child is sorry that these rare birds are killed for their wings 

 and plumes. If a little girl, perhaps she resolves never to wear them. 

 She remembers that birds have little folks, too, and she wonders what 

 becomes of them when the parent bird is shot down and can never 

 return to them with food. 



But at the next case these things are forgotten. At the top instead 

 of a picture there is a lyre bird, with his tall magnificent tail, and a 

 mounted beaver. The child remembers that Hiawatha was taught 



How the beavers built their lodges. 



He thinks this nmst be one of the same beavers and wonders if it is 

 full orown and how it is he can use his tail to build with. 



