EXTINCT BIRDS 



51 



THE PTARMIGAN IN WINTER 



One of a series of four small groups showing the bird's seasonal changes of colors 

 brought about by molting and feather growth. 



numbers were slaughtered with ease, but the last individual died in 

 captivity Sept. 1, 1914. The Heath Hen formerly had a wide range on 

 our Atlantic seaboard, but as a game bird it was so continually perse- 

 cuted, in and out of the breeding season, that it is now extinct except 

 for a colony under protection on the island of Martha's Vineyard. 

 Specimens of all of these birds are shown here, the Dodo being repre- 

 sented by an incomplete skeleton and by a life-size reproduction copied 

 from an old Dutch painting. Others of our splendid game birds, such 

 as the Tnunpeter Swan and Eskimo Curlew, are nearly, if not quite, 

 gone, and more, like the Wood Duck and Wild Turkey, will soon follow 

 them if a reasonably close season 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, and in certain alcoves as well, are 

 several cases designed to illustrate the general natural history of birds. 



