46 



The Gull and Ms Relatives. — Then come the long_ 

 winged swimming birds of the order Longipennes, 

 the gulls, petrels, and terns, that used to occupy such 

 a large place in any coastwise picture. 



Cormorants and Pelicans. — -Below are the pelicans, 

 gannets, cormorants, and the long-necked snake-bird 

 of the order Steganopodes. The floor cases contain 

 eggs and nests. 



Struggle for Existence. — The south side of the large 

 case separating the two parts of this room contains a 

 series illustrating the struggle for existence as exem- 

 pliiled in bird life and typified in the plaster figures. 

 Here are kites picking up their dinners of shells; two 

 of the groups suggest the dangers to which the birds 

 are subject before they see daylight, and often, as 

 seems probable in these cases } they are destined never 

 to have that privilege. But should they escape the 

 dangers of youth, their life-insurance rates are ren- 

 dered high by the constant prospect of falling prey 

 to some fox or hawk, as suggested in the groups to the 

 right and left. On the east side of this case are illus- 

 trated some of the birds that have become extinct, 

 from the hugh moa of New Zealand, probably the 

 largest bird that ever existed, to the much smaller 

 birds of the Jurassic age, when birds had teeth. Some 

 twenty species of moas have been found in New Zea- 



