CALlFOliXIA COX DOR -7 



(hint and tame. (Reproduced from studies at Plummer [sland in the 

 Potomac River, near Washington. 



The California condor Is the largest and one of the rarest of North 

 American birds. It. is not so heavy as the condor of the 



Andes but has a slightly greater spread of wing, eight and 



one-half to eleven feet. \n the group the visitor is sup- 

 posed to be standing in the interior of the cave where the bird has its 

 nest and is looking down on the river of the canon which is more than 

 five thousand feet below. (Reproduced from studies in Pirn (anon, 

 California.) 



The foreground of the group shows a detail of the island that is painted 



in the background. The young birds are feeding and it 



will be noticed that one fledgeling is reaching well down the 

 Group mother's throat after the predigested food. (Reproduced 



from studies at Monterey, California.) 

 Formerly this area was an arid place with a characteristic desert bird 



fauna. Now the ranchmen have irrigated the land and 

 VUG aquatic bird life abounds. This group is a good illustration 



of the influence of man on the bird life of a region. 

 In the breeding season the flamingos congregate in great numbers in 



their rookeries. There were estimated to be two thousand 

 G nests in this colony. The flamingos construct their nests 



by scooping up mud with their bills and packing it dow r n 



by means of bills and feet. The nests are raised to a height of tw r elve 



or fourteen inches; this protects eggs and young from disasters due to 



high water. Only one egg is laid in the nest, and the young is born 



covered with down like a young duck and is fed by the mother on 



predigested food. The brilliant plumage of the adult is not acquired 



until the fifth or sixth moult. (Reproduced from studies in the Bahama 



Islands.) 



In this group is showm a portion of a coral islet on which 



oo y^n three thousand boobies and four hundred man-of-war birds 



Man-of-War _ . 



Bird Group were nesting, the former on the ground, the latter in the sea 



grape bushes. (Reproduced from studies in the Bahama 

 Islands.) 



The abundance of bird life in one of these rookeries is quite astound- 

 ing. In this group are roseate spoonbills, snowy egrets, 



on a American egrets, little blue herons, Louisiana herons, ibises, 



Rookery , , L, „ , 



Group cormorants and water turkeys. Because of the great in- 



accessibility of this island it has been one of the last places 

 to escape the depredations of the plume-hunter. (Reproduced from 

 studies in the Everglades of Florida.) 



The golden eagle is one of the most widely distributed of birds. In 



