MUSEUM NOTES 13 
Vienna. Professor Penck, who is an Honorary Member of the 
Academy, chose for his topic ‘The Glacial Surface Features of 
the Alps,’’ a subject in which he is an eminent authority on 
account of the twenty years of almost continuous study that he 
has given to the valleys of these mountains. 
DECEMBER 5, Prince Fushimi of Japan and his staff visited 
the Museum, spending most of their time in the recently opened 
Chinese Hall. A reception was tendered the prince by President 
Jesup and the Trustees of the Museum. 
AFTER Mr. Chapman’s lecture on “The Home Life of Flamin- 
gos,’ December 8, the Members of the Museum and their friends 
had a preliminary view of the Flamingo group and the San 
Joaquin Valley group which are in course of preparation at the 
north end of the Hall of North American Birds. These groups 
are the most elaborate bird groups thus far attempted at the 
Museum. Like the Cobb’s Island group, a large part of the 
effectiveness of the scene depends upon the painted background 
which is introduced. The San Joaquin Valley group represents 
the broad, flat river valley with the Coast Range Mts. in the dis- 
tance and illustrates the effects of irrigation in an arid country, 
not only upon the agriculture, but also upon the birds which the 
ample supply of food has induced to take up their residence in a 
region otherwise hostile to them. The Flamingo group repre- 
sents a scene on an uninhabited island in the Bahamas, and has. 
been developed from photographs, birds and accessories which 
were obtained there by Mr. F. M. Chapman, Associate Curator of 
Ornithology, last May and June, upon an expedition a summary 
account of which was given in the October, 1904, number of the 
JournaL. Mr. Chapman is the first naturalist to behold the 
flamingos in their home and to observe their nesting habits. 
THERE has been installed in the new foyer, a representation 
of a part of the solar system, which is attracting considerable 
attention from visitors on account of its unique and instructive 
character. The sun is represented by an illuminated globe, six 
inches in diameter, and several of the planets are shown by means 
of lights of the proper .comparative size placed at distances from 
