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THE PTARMIGAN IN WINTER 

 One of a series of four small groups showiog this bird's seasonal changes of color as brought about 

 by molting and feather growth 



Dodo were flightless species which bred in great numbers on small islands 

 and were easily and quickly killed off by men. The Passenger Pigeon 

 of North America lived by the million in such dense flocks that vast num- 

 bers were slaughtered with ease, so that now (1914) the only individual 

 left alive is an aged female in the Cincinnati Zoological Gardens.* The 

 Heath Hen formerly had a good range on our Atlantic seaboard, but as a 

 game bird, it was so continually persecuted, in and out of the breeding 

 season, that it is now extinct except for a few which survive under protec- 

 tion 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 Turkey, will soon 

 follow them if a reasonable 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. 



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



, m . three) often worn bv one species will be found illustrated 



General Topics .,,-». , . , . . ~ , , 



in the Ptarmigan case and in the case containing Orchard 



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



Died September 1, 1914. 



57 



