Letters, Extracts, Notices, i^c. 509 



Such amends as lay in my power I trust I have made, and 

 hope that by the publieation of this correction in the present 

 vohime I shall save my readers much trouble and annoyance, 

 and myself many well-merited anathemas. 



Yours &e., 



W. P. PVCRAFT. 



University Museum, Oxford, 

 August 1, 1895. 



M. Boucard's Collection of Birds. — M. Adolphe Boncard, 

 well known to ornithologists for the excellent collections which 

 he formerly made in Mexico (1858-59), has presented the 

 whole of his private collection of birds to the Musee d^'Histoire 

 Naturelle, of Paris. This will be a most valuable addition to 

 the great French National Collection, as it embraces nearly 

 25,000 specimens and a great many types, such as that of 

 Chiromacharis coronata. The usual practice at Paris until 

 lately has been to mount all specimens for the Galerie; but 

 the Boucard Collection will be kept unmounted, and form 

 an excellent basis for a skin-collection. M. Oustalet is now 

 engaged in arranging it. 



The Manchester Museum, Owens College. — The Report of 

 the Manchester Museum (1895) informs us that a '^ beginning 

 has been made with the arrangement and labelling of the 

 collection of birds. The number of stuffed skins in the 

 collection is very large, much larger than can be accommo- 

 dated in the present cases ; but many of the specimens are 

 in a very unsatisfactory condition, and of some, even of the 

 commoner forms, there are no examples which are in a fit 

 state for exhibition. Arrangements have been made with 

 Mr. Ogilvie Grant, of the British Museum, to name the 

 greater part of the collection, and many hundred specimens 

 have now passed through his hands. These are now being 

 arranged in systematic order and provided with labels for 

 the individual species, and also with descriptive labels for the 

 families. The Museum is indebted to Miss L. B. Samuels 

 for much voluntary assistance in cataloguing and arranging 

 this collection." 



SER. VII. VOL. I. 2 N 



