98 



THE OsrREY. 



Beei-lieii Jknvur" is rortiiiiatol.v prfscTvotl, and Here, seated witJi Anna \\1kiI liliss so trans- 



I coiw it from a photograph of tlie original 

 manuseript in tlie possession of Di-. Coues: 



TJIE JiEECHEN llOWKi;. 



O, dear to my lieart is tliis deep siiai-led liower 

 This snug- little seat and this smooth Beechen 

 tree 

 These old hoary elift's through the Inishes that 

 tower 

 And bend o"er the pool their resemblance to 

 see 

 The fountains the (Irotto tlie Eain-cl's sweet 

 blossom 

 The streandet that warbles so soothing and 

 free 

 (ireen solitudes! dear to the Maid of my bosom 

 And so, for her salie, ever charming to me 



porting 

 1 wish every moment an age were to be 

 Her taste so exalted — her hunuir so sporting 



Her heart full of tenth-rness virtne and glee. 

 I'^ach evening- sweet Uow'r round thy clitVs will 

 I hover 

 In hopes her fair form thro' the foliage to 

 see 

 Heaven only can witness how dearly 1 love her 

 How sweet, Heechen Bower, thy shades are 

 to me. 



[Signed | A. Wii.soN. 

 January 18, 1S04. 



*[This title is modified from '• Lleliind the Veil," of Dr. Cones' 

 i^ossip over Wilsoniana in Bull. Niillall ( )rnitliological Ciub, Vol. 

 V. No. 4. Oct.. i88o. pp. 193-204. in wliich article was lirsl published 

 the poem now reprinted. It is evident that the " .4.nna " of ■• The 

 Beechen Bower" wa no other than Miss Bartram. — Eds.] 



AN OLD CASE OF SKINS AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS. 



I'.\ Wn:\iEK Stoni^. .Academy i-'f Natural Sciences. Philadelphia. Pa. 



To those who were acquainted witli tlie late 

 Prof. E. D. Cope, his museum on fine street, 

 in Philadelphia, was familiar. A dwelling 

 house, practically unfurnished, but crammed 

 from cellar to garret with "specimens" of every 

 description — though mainly fossils — cretaceous, 

 eocene, miocene, as the case might be, but all 

 covered with a distinctly post-glacial stratum 

 of dust. The magnificent array of fossil rhi- 

 noceros skulls which adorned the one-time 

 dining room never failed to attract the visit- 

 or's attention, and scarcely less interesting 

 were the gigantic saurians which found lodg- 

 ment in the parloi-. 



For me, however, an oblong yellow case, in 

 one of the upper rooms, possessed an attrac- 

 tion exceeding that of any of these monsters of 

 the past. This contained what was known as 

 the Turnbull collection of bird-skins, and a 

 hasty glance into the drawers on one or two oc- 

 casions in the professor's company only made 

 me long for an opportunity to go over the eon- 

 tents more leisurely. 



Such opportunity has lately been offered, as, 

 by the generous provisions of Prof. Cope's will, 

 the old yellow chest, along with many other 

 valuable collections, became the property of 

 the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadel- 

 phia, and is now before me. 



So far as can be ascertained, this little col- 

 lection of some seven hundred .skins represents 

 the combined efforts of Bernard Hoopes and 

 Chas. S. Turnbull, members of the Academy's 

 Ornithological Committee in the 60"s. 



Owing to the fact that neither The Osi'REY, 

 the Auk, nor the A. 0. U. existed in their time, 

 the names of these collectors are not generally 

 known to ornithologists of to-day. though 

 Hoopes will be remembered as the describer of 

 Krider's Hawk, and Turnbull as the author of 

 an admirable List of the Birds of East Penn- 

 sylvania and New Jersey (1869), probably the 

 best local list that had ajipeared up to that 

 time. 



Most collections, sooner or later, iind their 

 way to some large museum and lose their iden- 



tity-. We are, therefore, unable to see them as 

 they were left by the "bird men" of earlier 

 ilays. It is with peculiar interest that we now 

 examine these skins, and a feeling of close con- 

 tact with the past can not be suppressed. 



This lot was probably one of the first "skin 

 collections" in the country. The idea of hav- 

 ing- all specimens mounted was still dominant 

 in Cassin's time, and Prof. Baird, who was 

 about contemporary with the makers of this 

 collection, is credited with forming- the first 

 extensive collection of skins. 



Perhaps the first point that we notice in 

 these specimens is the great lack of definite 

 data. To these early ornithologists the name 

 of the bird seemed the all-important fact to 

 place on the label. To-day it is just the re- 

 verse; we hasten to inscribe exact locality, 

 date, sex, etc., leaving the name for the last, 

 perhaps because we fear it will be changed by 

 the A. O. U. Committee before we get it writ- 

 ten! A few of Prof. Baird's skins whii-h found 

 their way into the collection are, however, care- 

 fully labeled with fid! data, and serve as an 

 illustration of the excellent example which he 

 set in this matter. One of the nrst birds 

 which strikes the eye is an Tjiswich Sparrow 

 (Passerculus princeps). unfortunately \inla- 

 beled, but placed aside by itself as evidence of 

 theper|)lexityit probaldy caused. This .sjiecimen 

 w-as taken before the t.vpe had been secured by 

 ^Ir. Maynard. and is probably the first one ob- 

 tained since the time of Alexander Wilson. 

 (See OspREY. ii, p. 117.) 



Then there are s|ieciinens of most of the 

 w-estern Woodpecker.s — great ]n-izes at that 

 time, tojiidge from the notes on the back of the 

 labels, as, for instance. "Colaptes chrysoides. 

 Pare!" and "Pieus alliolarvatus. very P.are!" 



The ari-ay of Warblers is exceptionally fine, 

 w-hen we consider the time at w-liich they were 

 collected. Fifty species are represented, more 

 than two-thirds of all the forms recognized 

 to-day. Among them are specimens of the 

 Olive] nermit. Swainsou's. Grace's, and last, 

 but not least, the famous Townsend's Warbler, 



