60 



GENERAL TOPICS 



.«^.tH?*;' 



One of a scries of four snial 

 1t>' molting and feather growth. 



THE PTARMIGAN IN WINTER 



groups showing this l)irtrs scaxinal eh; 



i)f color as brought aboiil 



now extinct oxt'ei)t for a few wliicli survive under protection on tlie 

 island of Martha's Vineyard. Specimens of all of these birds are shown 

 here, the Dodo heins represented by an incomjjlete skeleton and by a 

 life-size reproduction copied from an old Dutch painting. Others of 

 our splendid gam(> 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 CJrebes, for example — have already gone far on the same 

 road owing to the great demand for their plumage for millinery pur{)oses. 



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 founti illustrated 



General Topics .,„ . ,-, -^ii 



m the rtarmigan case and m the case containing Orcliard 



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

 tionship between structure and habits, the many forms of bill, feet. 



