THE BROOKLYN MUSEUM 



order; the birds of paradise, twelve species, are placed in a 

 separate case on the west wall. Nests of South American 

 birds, showing colonies and various styles of bird architec- 

 ture, are exhibited. 



(On the other side of the vertebrate hall are the marsupials 

 and other mammals up to man. It is well, however, to visit first 

 the exhibit of birds of Long Island, contained in Room 1 on this 

 floor, and the exhibit of animals of Long Island in Room 3 ad- 

 joining.) 



The birds of Long Island are arranged in a series of 

 cases and habitat groups around the walls of Room 1, and 

 the aim of this collection and that in the adjoining room is 

 to present eventually a complete series of the vertebrate 

 fauna of this area. The bird collection is well on the way 

 to completion and contains many forms notable because of 

 their rarity. Among the habitat groups, that of the marsh 

 hawk, a small bird feeding mainly on frogs, snakes and 

 small animals, and that of the black-backed gull, a sea-coast 

 breeder of the north but found in the autumn as far south 

 as Virginia, are notably interesting. Pictorial representa- 

 tions of the heath hen, Labrador duck and great auk, birds 

 of Long Island which have become extinct during the last 

 century, are shown on the west wall of this room. 



The mural paintings on the walls of this room represent 

 typical shore and inland scenery of Long Island and help 

 materially to relate the bird exhibits with their habitats. 



Many of the perching birds of Long Island are exhibited 

 in the corridor between Rooms 1 and 3, and here also a 

 large map of the island, colored to represent contour and 



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