THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY 



ships. The series begins with the ostriches, those birds 

 which have changed least from their reptilian ancestors, 

 and terminates with the singing perching birds, such as the 

 thrush and finch, of the highest type of development. The 

 remaining specimens in the cases around the hall are 

 grouped according to their faunal regions, i.e., South Amer- 

 ican Temperate, American Tropical, North American Tem- 

 perate, Arctic, Eurasian, Indo-Malay, African and Aus- 

 tralian. 



Visitors who do not care to inspect every case will be 

 interested in an examination of the hornbill, which has the 

 peculiar habit of sealing the female in her nest when she 

 is "setting"; the varicolored toucans, whose bills are fash- 

 ioned into spoons by the natives of the different countries 

 these birds inhabit; the Argus pheasant, with its great 

 spreading tail; the gyrfalcon, equipped with its hood and 

 shown as being "pegged out" in the open air; the jungle 

 fowls from Africa, the progenitors of our domesticated 

 chickens; the brilliant colored quetzal with its long plumes, 

 the national bird of Guatemala, and the long-tailed fowls of 

 Japan with tail feathers frequently reaching a length of 

 from twelve to fourteen feet. 



In the center of the hall are cases containing groups of 

 extinct or nearly extinct birds: 



The Heath Hen, common in the early part of the last 

 century in portions of Massachusetts, Long Island and New 

 Jersey. The near extinction of these birds is due to exces- 

 sive shooting at all seasons; when the present specimens 



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