THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 



bird-life which has been developed since irrigation changed the 

 valley into an attractive feeding ground. The birds of the group 

 will comprise Stilts, Avocets, Cinnamon Teal, Coots, all breeding 

 or with young, Forster's and Black Terns, Pintail and Redhead 

 Ducks, Great Blue Heron and Yellow-headed and California Red- 

 winged Blackbirds. 



Three new bird groups have been placed in Hall No. 304, 

 They represent the Yellow-billed Magpie, a species which is re- 

 stricted to California in occurrence and which is rapidly decreas- 

 ing in numbers; the Sierra Sooty Grouse; and the California 

 Valley Quail. The last-named group, with its poppies, is an 

 especially characteristic bit of California bottom-land. 



The large collection of North American Diptera (Flies) which 

 was presented to the Museum recently by Professor William M. 

 Wheeler, Curator of Invertebrate Zoology, has been combined 

 with the collection formerly the property of the Museum and is 

 ready for use by students and other interested persons. The 

 whole series is in the office of the Curator of Entomology. 



The series of models representing invertebrate animals (Hall 

 No. 107) haye been enriched by many life-like reproductions in 

 glass, wax and other materials of Hydroids, Nemerteans and 

 Planarians. 



Mr. Archibald Rogers, a member of the Board of Trustees, 

 has presented to the Museum an exceptionally perfect copy of 

 the rare and valuable work, the elephant folio, or first edition, of 

 Audubon's "Birds of the United States of America." It is be- 

 lieved that not more than 175 copies of this edition of ' ' Audu- 

 bon" are now in existence, of which about one-half are thought 

 to be in this country. Published in 87 parts at ten dollars each, 

 the work is now valued at $3,000, and although some seventy 

 years have elapsed since its appearance, it remains an authority 

 on the life-histories of the birds treated, while the magnitude of 

 the undertaking is an evidence of Audubon's unrivaled energy 

 and courage. 



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