198 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 
the power of flight when their full male costume is regained. The disguise, 
as it were, known as the “eclipse plumage” is well shown indeed by the 
cinnamon teal and ruddy duck in the San Joaquin group. 
At the same end of this hall, but on the west side, is situated the really 
startling flamingo group. Protective coloration evidently plays no part 
in the lives of adult flamingoes, whatever it may do for their young, and 
these flaming creatures, which, as the birds in the background show, can be 
seen at a great distance, are protected by the nature of their haunts which 
permit them to see as well as be seen long before an enemy could reach them, 
in connection with a wildness which makes it impossible to approach near 
them without the exercise of the utmost caution, and that under favoring 
conditions. Furthermore, these brilliant birds are most abundant only on 
islets uninhabited by predatory mammals and where they find in abundance 
the small shells on which they mainly subsist. 
Only one additional instance will be cited to illustrate further the value 
of these groups in connection with a study of the colors of birds. It will be 
found in the Arctic-Alpine group from the summit of the Canadian Rockies 
where white-tailed ptarmigan in summer plumage can scarcely be seen amid 
the heather and the lichen-covered rocks. A seasonal group at the entrance 
to the main bird hall below shows clearly how the plumage of this bird, 
keeping pace in its changes with the variations in its surroundings, prevents 
its wearer from ever becoming a shining mark for the numerous foes to 
whose attacks it is subject, but the group in question shows only the summer 
home and summer plumage of the birds, and it is especially significant to 
know that the female, found sitting on the nest here shown, actually per- 
mitted herself to be touched before deserting her eggs. Compare her ac- 
tions with those of the skimmer, which avoids even being seen on its nest, 
and we have a convincing demonstration by the birds themselves of what 
constitutes a protective and what a non-protective plumage. 
FRANK M. CHAPMAN 
A NEW FIELD FOR MUSEUM WORK 
HAT the Museum has created a Department of Public Health em- 
phasizes its aim to develop scientific work along practical lines 
directly beneficial to the masses of the people. That it has placed 
at the head of this department a man whose previous work and interest 
have centered largely in problems of city water supply and sewage disposal 
comes with peculiar fitness at just this moment when for the past two 
months the water supplies in and about New York have been deficient in 
quantity and questionable in quality. Professor Winslow plans to build 
