MUSEUM NEWS NOTES 75 



second and third floors, a peculiar exhibit consisting of four 

 "pictures" to demonstrate the fact that the colors of birds 

 agree in tint with the colors of their surroundings. Three of 

 the pictures represent the Bluejay, the Woodpecker and the 

 Bird of Paradise in their natural surroundings and are intended 

 to prove the theory that animals' colors, if they remain unchanged 

 throughout the year, represent the scene which forms their back- 

 ground at the season and for the eyes with which their lives are 

 inost concerned. They are striking illustrations of protective 

 coloration. The fourth picture is a landscape made entirely of 

 the feathers of the Bluejay. The exhibit has been gotten to- 

 gether by Mr. A. H. Thayer of Monadnock, N. H. 



An attractive exhibit which has recently been placed on 

 view in the Chinese Hall, No. 301 of the gallery floor, is the 

 mahogany bed of a Chinese nobleman. The woodwork is 

 elaborately inlaid with carved ivory representing landscapes and 

 conventional figures and is ornamented with delicate carvings 

 and paintings on silk. This combined bed and anteroom is 

 designed to stand like one of our ordinary bedsteads in the 

 sleeping room of the owner. 



A NEW group in the North American Hall, No. 102 on the 

 ground floor, represents the summer home of the Eskimo of 

 Cumberland Sound. The scene selected is the bringing home of 

 the results of a successful seal-hunting expedition. This group 

 is a companion piece to the group of the winter home of the 

 same tribe. 



The naturally mummified body from the copper mine in 

 Chile, popularly known as the "Copper Lady," has attracted 

 thousands of visitors to the Peruvian Hall during the past four 

 months. The specimen was described and illustrated in the Jan- 

 uary number of the Journal. 



There were more than three hundred lectures and scientific 

 papers given at the Museum during the year 1905. The atten- 

 dance at these was as follows: Members' courses, 10,485; Pupils' 

 courses, 46,399 ; on the principal holidays, 3,762 ; Board of Educa- 

 tion courses, 42,212; meetings of scientific societies, 2,688. 



