320 The Strickland Collection 



XXIX. — The Strickland Collection in the University of Cam- 

 bridge. By The Editor. 



(Plate IX.) 



Some time since, it was mentioned in this Journal (Ibis, 1867, 

 p. 383) that the large ornithological collection of the late Mr. 

 Hugh Edwin Strickland had been presented by his widow to 

 the University of Cambridge, an assertion which may possibly 

 have occasioned surprise to those who remembered that the 

 author of the admirable memoir of that deeply-regretted natu- 

 ralist had stated that the sister University was to be honoured 

 by so magnificent a gift^. Oxford, however, soon evinced an 

 indisposition to make such provision for its reception as his 

 trustees (his father and widow) thought suitable; and when in 

 1865 one of them died, the survivor found the rulers of that 

 University still uncertain as to where room for the collection 

 could be given. Thus, it may be briefly repeated, Cambridge 

 became the recipient of Mrs. Strickland's generosity. At first 

 it was hoped by those who had the management of the matter 

 that the ordinary fund by which the University Museum is 

 supported would suffice to supply the accommodation required 

 for this increase to its treasures; but it speedily became evident 

 that, saddled as that fund was by the expense of erecting a large 

 though perfectly plain building, it would be long before the cost 

 of cabinets and other fittings could be prudently incurred. 

 Accordingly application was made to each College in the 

 University to subscribe in its corporate capacity to this end ; 

 and the appeal was answered (in many cases very liberally) by 

 every College save one. The sum thus subscribed, however, was 

 still inadequate to the object desired, and it became necessary 

 to have recourse to the generosity of private persons, beginning 

 with those who were or had been members of the University 

 Thanks to the indefatigable exertions of Mr. John Willis Clark, 

 the Superintendent of the Museums of Zoology and Comparative 

 Anatomy, the claims of this collection as well as that of Swainson, 

 which for over five and twenty years had been the property of 



* ' Memoir of Hugh Edwin Strickland,' &c. By Sir William Jardine, 

 Bart., F.E.S.E., &c. London : 1858, p. cclx. 



