oU 



THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 



the quick completion and publication of the 

 work. As Dr. Witmer Stone says in The 

 Auk, "We realize at once that it is the most 

 important contribution ever made to the sub- 

 ject of which it treats, but we further rec- 

 ognize in it the completion of a definite 

 plan, clearly conceived and carefully carried 

 out — an accomplishment that must be as 

 much of a gratification to the author as it is 

 to those who consult the volume. Too often, 

 especially in America, important explora- 

 tions have been made and extensive collec- 

 tions obtained which through force of cir- 

 cumstances remain unreported. . . ." 



The four species of South American birds 

 reproduced in color in this number and de- 

 scribed as new by Dr. Chapman are of 

 particular interest because so distinctly 

 different from species of North America. 

 The toucans are the strangest of all the 

 strange birds of Colombia, their huge bills 

 serving as arms to reach fruits borne on 

 branches not strong enough to bear the 

 weight of the birds. Their bright colors, often 

 in conflicting shades, are carried to the ex- 

 treme on their enormous bills. That the 

 color patterns of these birds look to us 

 much like today's experiments in shij} cam- 

 ouflage gives interest to Dr. Arthur A. 

 Allen's statement that the species are diffi- 

 cult to see in the forest despite their con- 

 spicuous colors. Anti^ittas have been called 

 "bobtailed robins," and the lower bird esj^e- 

 cially, of the two shown in the color plate, 

 will remind the citizen of the United States 

 of a young American robin. Antpittas are 

 not well known to the citizens of South 

 America, however. They are likely to 

 escape the observation of even the na- 

 tive collectors, becauss so well concealed in 

 their habitat, the moss-grown vegetation 

 of the jungle floor. Fuertes' parrakeet lives 

 in small flocks in the tree tops. Like other 

 parrots, these birds seem to be mated for 

 life, and in flight pairs always keep to- 

 gether. The finches of South America have 

 habits similar to those of our ehewinks or 

 towhees. 



A HOSPITAL for birds is a new departure, 

 but one that seems eminently worth while in 

 view of the results achieved by Dr. W. W. 

 Arnold at Colorado Springs, as described in 

 a summer number of Bird Lore. Dr. Arnold 

 first became interested in treating wounded 



birds when a little girl brought to him a 

 nighthawk and tearfully asked if he could 

 not make it well just as he did the broken 

 arms of little boys and girls. In a commo- 

 dious aviary he constantly provides for from 

 twenty-five to thirty feathered patients, dis- 

 abled by contact with telephone wires or by 

 other accidents which befall them in their 

 migrations across country. While minister- 

 ing to their needs he becomes acquainted 

 with many imsuspected bird traits. 



Armaxd Thevenix, a French paleontol- 

 ogist, died on March 7 from the effects of 

 poisonous gases with which he was experi- 

 menting in connection with the war. He was 

 forty-eight years of age and well known for 

 his careful and accurate work in the de- 

 velopment of vertebrate palaeontology. He 

 was associated at the Museum Xational 

 d'Histoire Naturelle, in Paris, with palaeon- 

 tologists of international fame, and produced 

 under such stimulus his interesting studies 

 on fossil vertebrates. Thevenin gave 

 especial attention to the subject of fossil 

 Amphibia and was the discoverer of an in- 

 teresting primitive reptile, Sauravus costei, 

 a form which, as the most ancient reptile of 

 France, is paralleled in America by the 

 Eosauravus copei, described by Williston 

 from the coal measures of Linton, Ohio. The 

 publications of Thevenin number probably 

 not more than a dozen papers. Of these the 

 best known is his monograph on "Les Plus 

 Anciens Quadrupedes de France," in Tome 

 V of the Annales de Paleontologie, a well- 

 written, finely illustrated memoir which was 

 awarded a prize by the Academy of Sciences ; 

 it ei^itomizes the ability and ideals of 

 Armand Thevenin. His opinion that the 

 vertebrates of the coal measures, although 

 very ancient, were still a long way from 

 their origin, agrees with the decision reached 

 by students of early vertebrates in America. 



The Katmai Expedition of the Xational 

 Geographic Society to the Valley of Ten 

 Thousand Smokes, Alaska, in the summer of 

 1918, had for its object a reconnaissance of 

 regions not yet visited, with a view to more in- 

 tensive study of the volcanic phenomena. 

 Because of war conditions, and particularly 

 the difficulty of obtaining transportation, 

 the party included only two men, Messrs. 

 Jasper Sayre and Paul P. Hagelbarger, 

 both members of last year's expeilition. 



