R. W. Shufeldt — Birds in Washington Zoological Gardens 4 8



much flapping of wings, evidently eager for battle with the newcomer

if an opportunity occurred. As the Eagle only stared back angrily,

nothing further developed ; the display lasted an hour. On another

occasion 1 found them trying to reach a Crowned Hawk Eagle (Spizcetus

coronatus), so that Forster’s Milvago is not deficient in courage. In

later life they became much milder. Except when angry, I never

remember them making any noise none for amusement, as is so

frequent with the vociferous Sea Eagle, and to a lesser extent with

Pallas’s Fishing Eagle.


The only other comparison which seems worth noting is that these

birds appeared heavier and less active in flight than were their allies,

the Brazilian Caracaras ( Polyboms ).



BIRDS IN THE NATIONAL ZOOLOGICAL

GARDENS AT WASHINGTON


By R. W. Shufeldt, M.D., C.M.Z.S., etc., Fellow of the American

Ornithologists’ Union, Hon. Member Royal Australasian

Ornithologists’ Union


There is probably no other zoological park in the world that

possesses the acreage, associated with the wide variations of topo¬

graphical features of the National Zoological Park at Washington.

With respect to the first it may be said that the land area includes

between 160 and 170 acres, w r hile, taken as a whole, the land and

water diversity is truly remarkable, as one finds every physical character

of it in the surrounding country for miles. There are level tracts,

gorges, forests, thickets, hills of no mean size, goodly streams, ponds,

brooks—indeed, so diversified is the area that the visitor ever has

the feeling of being very close to nature when rambling through the

greater part of the reserve. It is not my intention, however, to present

a detailed description of this elegant Government reservation in this

place, as I have already done so in several other publications, as in

the Scientific American supplement and elsewdiere. It is from an

ornithological angle that I desire to give some account of the attractions

of our National “ Zoo ”, and there are many of them.



