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loirbziiure
A Ei-manthly Magazine Devoted to the study and Protection ni Blrds
OFFICIAL tutch or rnr Al‘DI‘Ilth sutirt’lw~‘
Edited by FRANK M. CHAPMAN Published by THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
Published August 1. 1903 No 4
Vol. V
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i,uPVR|Gll‘lED. Loo). uv FRANK .u. CHAPMAN
Bird-Lore's Motto: A [tint t'u the Rush ts IVaI'Ih Two in [In Hand
We figure in this issue of Ban-LoltE a portion of a group of birds lately placed on exhibition in the American Museum of Natural History. This group is intended to he a companion piece to the Bird Rock group completed some years ago. The latter represents the sea-bird lite of a rocky, precipitous shore, while the more recent group reproduces the sea-hint life ota sandy heach.
The first group has been pronounced hoth a faithful and attractive representation of the conditions it is designed to depict. but in the newer group a further attempt at rea stn has been made through the intro» ductlon of a painted background.
The observer is supposed to be standing on the inner. westward side of the broad beach of Cobb's Island, Virginia, and to be looking eastward across the beach otlt over the seat The foreground, with its birds. grasses and shells. is realI the more distant beach antl the sea are painted, but so cle - erly are the [nu joined that. as our illustra~ tion shows. it is ditticult to tell where one leaves all and the other begins.
We mention this exhibit not as a bit of museum news, but to compare it with the runs of birds mourned stitlly on '1‘ pert-hes u-liit-h t'nnstittlte the usual museum display
Bird-Lore
in ornithology. 0n the one hand is no notony of pose without suggestion of haunt or habit; on the other, the bird is a part of the scene in which. in life, it belongs.
' here is obviously small need for this comparison so far as the merits of these two types of museum exhibits are concerned. and it is made solely to emphasize the dillereuce hetwccn efiective and inefiectivc methods of presenting facts in natural histor
The puhl' tile past the endless rows of stutled specimens. pausing only here and there for a second look ar some bright color or. perhaps. at the owner of a familiar name, hilt in the and are brought no nearer the bird in nature. And it should never for a moment be forgotten that it is the bird in nature to which th: museum exhibits ought to lead us.
The stereotyped stulted bird or bird’s skin will do for the student uho refers to it as one would to a dictionary. but it is em~ phatically not an object to appeal to one whose interest in the language or Ornithology remains to he awakened. We may then compel the attention of the unohsertant by appealing primarily to the universal love oi the beautiful. This Cobb's Island group is a picture in color which tew can pass with only a casual glance. Once really seen it arouses the curi sil_\‘. This may lead to the reading of a label. and thtls the way is opened for the entrance not only of the general tacts which the group is de» signed to illustrate but of those relating to the birds of which it is composed.
Nor is this lesson to he read by the nlu» tr helongs equally It may
seunl curator alone. to every teacher of natural history. not always be possible for him to present facts through the medium of a such group as the one in question, but at least the fact should have its proper setting, which should not only be accurate hilt attractive.
It is only failure to grasp a fact in its proper relations, to appreciate its real mean» ing. that leads some teachers away from the truth in an attempt to secure their pupi attention. I'hus we have natural history fiction. But he has indeed a vivid imagi- nation who can create fiction which shall be more interesting than facts in nature.
