File:The American Museum journal (c1900-(1918)) (17972444090).jpg

Title: The American Museum journal
Identifier: americanmuseumjo11amer (find matches)
Year: c1900-(1918) (c190s)
Authors: American Museum of Natural History
Subjects: Natural history
Publisher: New York : American Museum of Natural History
Contributing Library: American Museum of Natural History Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

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III. THE HABITAT GROUPS OF MAMMALS AND BIRDS BH .J. A. Alln, THK group exhibits illustratiiifi the life hahits and natural enxiron- inent of mammals and birds in the American Museum of Natural History now exceed one hundred and fifty in number, and nearly half of them, in respect to scope, size and accuracy of detail, are admittedly more elaborate than any similar exhibits in other museums. The con- struction of the smaller groups l)egan some twenty-five years ago, and later much larger groups were undertaken. In more recent years similar exhibits have been installed in other American museums, making a more or less general departure from the century-old methods of museum exhibition that prevailed generally almost to tlic end of the nineteenth century.
Text Appearing After Image:
The educational advantages of these groups consist in their realism. The Bison (Jroup, with its area of fifteen by thirty feet, represents a characteristic bit of the Plains, the former typical home of the American bison (miscalled "buffalo"), and includes not only the original sod c()\ered with real " Iniffalo grass," but also a real buffalo trail, a weathered bison skull, and bunches of cacti, besides an old bull and cow, a young calf and young bulls of different ages, the ensemble illustrating most impressixcly and accurately the actual appearance of this animal and its home surroundings. Large explanatory labels give briefly its history, while on accompanying maps is shown the vast area of its original range and the gradual restriction of this range to the few points where it still exists, in limited preserves under governmental protection. 248

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