472 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1914. 
for their more effective exhibition large inclosures in which they might 
have some opportunity for flight. Such an inclosure is called in 
French a ‘“‘voliére,’”’ or place for flymg. We have no perfectly satis- 
factory word for it in English, and have adopted the rather clumsy 
and misleading substitute of “flying cage.’’ There are several such 
large cages in the National Zoological Park. It is necessary, of 
course, to separate the eagles, owls, hawks, vultures, and other 
predacious birds from the less aggressive ones, and the larger running 
birds can not well be shown in this way. 
The large cage shown on Plate 32 is 158 feet long by 50 feet 
wide and 50 feet high, and is situated in a lovely valley near the 
western entrance to the park. It is built over several full-grown 
trees and has a streamlet of water running through it which supples 
small pools for the convenience of the birds. It contains a con- 
siderable variety of medium-sized birds, mainly those that like to live 
near water, such as herons, storks, cranes, cormorants, etc. The 
night herons have made themselves very much at home there, 
building their nests and rearing young in considerable numbers every 
year, so that the park has been somewhat embarrassed by their rapid 
increase. Attracted by the apparent comfort of their kind, wild 
herons come and build also in the trees about the cage. 
Much larger cages than this have been erected. The one built 
by the park at the St. Louis Exposition in 1904 is 228 feet long, 84 
feet wide, and about 55 feet high. It was intended to bring this cage 
to the National Zoological Park, but the city of St. Louis desired it to 
remain there. 
It will be impracticable to give within the limits of this article 
anything more than a brief note of some of the principal birds in the 
collection at the park. Only a few are mentioned. 
THE TOUCAN. 
This noisy bird comes from the forests of tropical America and 
many species are found in the Amazon Valley. Its enormous bill, 
which one would think would overweight the bird, is really very light 
and does not at all interfere with flight, though it is somewhat 
awkward while eating, as the bird has to throw its head back to allow 
morsels to reach its throat. Its plumage varies much in different 
species, but is always very showy —jet black or very dark green, 
being set off by brilliant yellow and scarlet. Like our crows, these 
birds congregate and call to each other with raucous cries, and are 
especially excited if they discover an owl. 
THE MARABOU. 
If you observe a large, silent, sedate bird scanning you critically 
and judicially with a military air, that is the marabou stork, or adju- 
