THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY 



the Hudson River, which were sold at the rate of one cent 

 each. The last individual died in the Cincinnati Zoological 

 Gardens in 1914. 



Near-by is a group indicating the relation between struc- 

 ture and habit in birds as illustrated by woodpeckers, fol- 

 lowed by a case containing specimens of nearly all the 

 known varieties of the birds of paradise. 



In alcoves will be found small groups of various birds 

 and series of birds' nests and eggs, showing the size of the 

 egg and the number in the clutch. Of special interest in 

 the case containing the ostriches, is an egg of the vEpyor- 

 nis, one of the several species of gigantic extinct birds dis- 

 tantly related to the ostrich and known only from bones and 

 eggs found in the forests of southern Madagascar. This 

 egg has a capacity of six times that of the ostrich egg, 140 

 fair-sized eggs of the common hen or 18,000 eggs of hum- 

 mingbirds. They were frequently used for bowls and 

 water jars. Stories of their size, told by Arabian traders, 

 gave rise to the fable of the roc, a giant bird which could 

 carry off an elephant. It is said that when the present 

 natives of the island find one of these eggs, they hold a 

 feast in honor of the event, at which time they sacrifice 

 several oxen. 



From the ceiling hangs a skeleton of a finback whale 

 sixty-two feet in length. 



At the rear of the group of birds of paradise has been 

 temporarily installed a portion of the collection of recent 

 fishes. 



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