ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 



625 



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fishers, hornbills, hoopoes, motmots, tro- 

 gons, toucans and bower birds. The Trogon 

 Hves on in spite of his deHcacy ; the Motmot 

 preens the webs from his tail-feathers before 

 our eyes : the bkie-eyed Bower-bird pays no 

 heed to the visitor as lie arranges his garden 

 and ornaments, and dances before his mate. 



Here the Road-Runner leaps from floor to 

 roof of his cage in play, and the quaint Ani 

 Cuckoos or Witch-Birds sit closely huddled, 

 two or three deep on their perches. 



If one wonders how the tremendous beak of 

 the toucan ever came about, he may follow 

 back the graduations as shown in the next 

 cage by the toucanets, and farther on by the 

 barbets. The woodpeckers, represented by the 

 Greater Spotted species from Europe, and 

 Golden-Fronts from the tropics, with our own 

 Northern Flickers, clamber and dig holes in 

 their trunks with the splendid virility which 

 always marks these birds. 



What shall we say of the two hundred and 

 fifty or more sparrows, thrushes and their 

 kin ? They sing in their delight at the never- 

 failing food and the lack of danger. 



Not a country in the world is unrepresented, 

 from the Hoary Redpoll, fresh from the ice- 



bound shores of Greenland, to the brilliant 

 Tanager of the tropics ; from the Bulbul of 

 the far east, to our own Mocking-Bird. 



The European hears with delight the Night- 

 ingale, Robin Redbreast and Bullfinch, The 

 myriad Weavers of Africa weave and chatter 

 in a cage with a hundred of their fellows. The 

 warble of the Australian Piping-Crows must 

 bring memories to the mind of every visitor 

 from that country, just as the Solitaire and 

 the Kiskadee Flycatcher recall to mind our 

 own tropics. 



The collection of native American birds is 

 probably unsurpassed, and many a student 

 checks off his vaguely filled note-book from 

 the living bird here within arm's reach. 



No matter how enthusiastically one may go 

 about forming a collection of livin.g birds, 

 without capable and willing help all is of no 

 avail. In the matter of keepers the Zoological 

 Park has been particularly fortunate in ob- 

 taining men who love their charges, who 

 gladly work over-time and who devote many 

 spare hours at home to thought and planning 

 for the birds in their care. To these men is 

 largely due the credit for the successful main- 

 tenance of the collection. 



