560 children's room in Smithsonian institution. 



for tnem. Then, an at once, nis eye catcnes some woven and spun 

 asbestos, that nobody can burn up, no matter how hot the tire is, and 

 he thinks he would like a suit of this material, and so become a lire- 

 man, and live happy ever after. And now the child has finished the 

 circuit of the room. He turns once more to the song birds and dart- 

 ing fish, and before he goes he must have one more look at the cases. 

 The owls, the swallows, the night hawk, and the whippoorwill — such 

 things as these he has been glad to see at close range. Heretofore 

 they have been to him but as darting shadows, or weird voices from the 

 dusk of evening. He has seen swallows circling about the chimney at 

 nightfall, diving in one by one, and he has heard them cuddling cosily 

 together at bedtime. Now for the first time he knows just how they 

 look, just how they build their nests, and how they cling to the rough 

 brick with feet that are set too far back on their bodies for them ever 

 to perch on a limb without toppling over. 



And the child goes home at last, glad, and with knowledge, and the 

 love of knowledge, in his heart. He is happy, and, because his won- 

 der has been aroused, he has learned. Unless he is a very small child, 

 he has been able to read the large, clear type of the simply worded 

 labels, on which, with one exception, there are no more Latin names. 

 The exception is made in favor of a very small humming bird, who 

 bears bravely his technical title, Rhamphomicron microrhynchum, left 

 by the honorary curator as the best explanation of why he has not 

 retained the others. Of all the rest the common names only are given; 

 and where no common name exists, a literal translation of the Latin 

 name is made. All the labels the child has been able to read, and he 

 is not wearied, and he has not been puzzled or confused. 



Perhaps the child who has passed an hour or two in this room full 

 of interest and pleasure does not know or care to whom his happiness 

 and his thanks are due. It does not matter. If he only cares for the 

 thing itself, cares enough to come again, and perhaps bring his par- 

 ents, that they too may look and learn with young eyes (and if he is- 

 the child most of us have known best, he will do this), the Secretary 

 and Honorary Curator will be amply repaid. 



Doctor Langley has strenuously opposed all appreciative mention i 

 of himself in this paper, and it is only through my most urgent 

 insistence that I have been permitted to let any portion of the meager 

 justice of the original article escape the sacrifice demanded by the 

 modest Curator. 



I note with pleasure the addition of the beautiful color plates of the 

 butterflies, insects, humming birds, Mandarin duck, etc., which 

 deserve mention not only because of the fascinating subjects which 

 they portray, but because they represent the very latest developments 

 in the art of color reproduction. My only regret is that these hand- 

 some illustrations could not be presented to the readers of St. Nicho- 

 las, in which the original article appeared. 



