The New Bird Groups in the American Museum of 

 Natural History 



By FRANK M. CHAPMAN 



FROM time to time during the past four years photographs of certain 

 bird groups in the American Museum of Natural History have 

 appeared in BiRD-LoRE, but, beyond the caption with each cut, 

 nothing has been said of the groups themselves or of the object of the series 

 of w^hich they form a part. This series will be known as 'The Habitat 

 Groups of North American Birds.' 



The novel features of these groups consist mainly in their painted back- 

 grounds and in their method of installation, particularly with respect to 

 lighting. 



Briefly, it may be said that these groups are lighted from above by 

 reflected natural, and, when necessary, artificial light. The source of light, 

 therefore, whether by day or night, is always the same, and, in consequence, 

 there is but one set of shadows, a matter of the first importance where an 

 attempt is made to connect the actual foreground with the painted back- 

 ground. 



In ground plan the groups are curved at the back and straight in front, 

 from which point alone they can be seen. Only a part of the front is 

 occupied by the glass through which the group is viewed, both the ends and 

 the top of the group being beyond the range of vision from the normal view 

 point. This increases the panoramic illusion and adds greatly to the artistic 

 effectiveness of the whole. 



It is, however, not my object to speak of the method of construction of 

 these groups, but rather of the idea which they are designed to embody. 

 The more novel feature of this idea is to be found in the painted back- 

 grounds which form a part of each group. Painted backgrounds for small 

 groups or panels of mounted birds have long been employed by the taxider- 

 mist ; but this, it is believed, is the first attempt to introduce backgrounds 

 painted from nature and intended to reproduce a given scene as accurately 

 as the groups they supplement do a limited portion of it. Such backgrounds 

 have, therefore, not only a biologic or ecologic value, as they portray the 

 nesting habitat of a species or illustrate colonial nesting habits on a scale 

 which mere taxidermy alone would prohibit, but they have also a botanic, 

 geographic and physiographic value. It is believed, therefore, that when the 

 thirty-odd groups which have been planned for this series are completed, 

 the Museum will have not alone adequate reproductions of the nesting 

 habits and haunts of many American birds, but will have also a series of 

 paintings representing, in a novel and attractive manner, characteristic 

 American scenery. The series might indeed be called America and its Bird- 

 Life. 



(i68) 



