40 
BIRD GALLERY. 
too small for flight, once inhabitants of the islands of Mauritius 
and Rodriguez, but now extinct. Other cases on the right-hand 
side of the gallery are occupied by the Game-Birds, and' the 
^Vading and Swimming Birds. Here will be noticed a nearly 
complete collection of the genera of Pheasants and Pigeons, 
showing the various forms. Special attention may be drawn 
to the Great Auk (fig. 14), from the Northern Seas, which 
became extinct only in the last century. Casts of the eggs of 
this curious bird are also exhibited. A case in the 7th Bay 
contains a series of Penguins, flightless birds which may be 
regarded as representing the Auks and Guillemots in the 
southern oceans. Particularly interesting is the great Emperor 
Penguin, which lays its eggs and rears its young amidst the 
icy surroundings of the Antarctic. The specimens exhibited 
were obtained during the British Antarctic Expedition of 
1839-43, under the command of Captain Sir James Clark Eoss. 
Other noteworthy types are the Great Bustard, once an 
inhabitant of England, and the Flamingo. A pair of the latter 
is exhibited with their nest. 
In the first two bays on the right side of the gallery are placed 
specimens of the peculiar division of birds called Ratitse, from 
the flat or raft-like character of the breast-bone. Owing to 
the rudimentary character of their wings, these Birds have 
not the power of raising themselves in flight. They 
include the largest existing Birds, the Ostriches, Emus, and 
Cassowaries, as well as the small Kiwis or Apteryx of New 
Zealand, together with the extinct Moas of the same country, 
and the Roc {jEpyornis) of Madagascar. A fossil egg of the 
latter is placed alongside eggs of the existing species of the 
group. 
Groups of Down the middle line of the gallery, as well as in many 
aS^Nests^^^ of the bays, are placed groups showing the nesting-habits 
of the best-known British birds. The great value of these 
groups consists in their absolute truthfulness. The sur- 
roundings are not selected by chance or imagination, but. 
in every case are carefully-executed reproductions of those that 
were present round the individual nest. When it has been 
possible, the actual rocks, trees, or grass, have been preserved, 
and where these were of a perishable nature they have been 
