54 



h:\Ti scr liiRDs 



LABRADOR DUCKS. NOW EXTINCT 



FrcHii the Clnnip in tlic Aiiicricaii Museum 



Extinct Birds 



Down the middle of the hall near the entrance are several eases con- 

 tainin<i; birds which have l)econie extinct or nearly so. 

 The Labrador Duck, once a connnon winter visitor to our 

 Lon«»; Island shores, became extinct for no known reason. The (Ireat 

 Auk and the Dodo were fii«>;htless species which bred in great numbers 

 on small islands and were easily and (juickly killed off by men. The 

 Passenger Pigeon of North America lived by the million in such dense 

 Hocks that vast numl)ers were slaughtered with ease, so that now (1913) 

 the only individual left alive is an aged female in the Cincinnati Zoological 

 (lardens. The Heath Hen formerly had a good range on our Atlantic 

 seal)oard, b\it as a game bird, it was so continually persecuted, in and out 

 of the l)reeding season, that it is now extinct except for a few which 

 survive under protection on the island of Martha's Vineyard. Others 

 of our splendid game birds, such as the Trumpeter Swan and Eskimo 

 Curlew, are nearly, if not quite gone, and more like the Wood Duck and 

 Wild Turkc^y, will soon follow them if a reasonable close sea.son and 

 limited bag be not rigidly enforced. Still others— the beautiful Egrets 

 and the Grebes, for example — have already gone far on the same road 

 owing to the great demand for their plumage for millinery purposes. 



Also down the center of the hall are several cases designed to illustrate 

 the general natural history of birds. 



The widely different plumages (varying with age, sex, season, or all 

 three) often worn by one species will be found illustrated 

 in the Ptarmigan case and in the case containing Orchard 

 Orioles, Snow Huntings, Scarlet Tanagers and Bobolinks. The relation- 

 ship between structure and habits, the many forms of bill, feet, wings, 

 tail, etc., and the different ways of using them are illustrated in other 

 cases, ])arti('ularly by one showing the feeding habits of some birds. 



General Topics 



