The Tomas of West Africa ; Birdwatching ; Troy

SEGMENT 1: The Tomas of West Africa. The Tomas of Liberia and Sierra Leone, Africa are depicted in a film based on the book Sacred Forest, with special emphasis on their rituals and sacrifices, including male and female initiations. Another film on the Toma people is shown. Made by missionaries, this film depicts weaving, playing games, fishing, preparing food, playing music, parading for an inauguration, and dancing for various ceremonial rituals. Joseph Moore, an anthropology professor at the Episcopal Seminary in Evanston, Illinois, and an expert on the topic, is the guest on this first segment. SEGMENT 2: Bird Watching. Robert Cushman Murphy, AMNH ornithologist, discusses the southward migration of birds in the fall, especially of Canadian geese and other waterbirds. A film of slowmotion flights and landings of many waterbirds illustrates the characteristics under discussion. Murphy also takes viewers birdwatching in a secluded section of Westchester County, N.Y. SEGMENT 3: Troy. The story of Troy is presented with an elaborate floor painting and sand table set up in the studio. While the subject is presented as fictional, the theories of Heinrich Schliemann, a nineteenth-century businessman who discovered the city of Troy under the ruins of several other cities, are presented and Walter Ashlin Fairservis, AMNH archaeologist, is interviewed. A film about the ruins of Troy made by Marian Rosen and Carl Blagen of the University of Cincinnatti's Classics Department is also presented.