Vol i'^ !I1 ] Note$ and News - J 95 



We have received Vol. I, No. 4. Jan. 1896, of 'The Feather,' a monthly 

 journal devoted to "Poultry, Pigeons, Birds, etc.," published by George 

 E. Howard & Co., Washington, D. C. It has a department devoted to 

 "Cage Birds and Wild Birds," conducted by Dr. F. 11. Knowlton of the 

 U. S. National Museum. The January issue contains several pages of 

 ornithological miscellany, contributed by Dr. Knowlton, including an 

 article on 'The Great Auk, an Extinct Bird of much Renown,' illustrated 

 with cuts of the bird, its skeleton, and its egg. 



In ax article in ' Nature' (Feb. 20, 1S96), Dr. R. Bowdler Sharpe gives 

 an account of 'The Seebohm Collection' of birds received by the British 

 Museum as a bequest from the late Mr. Henry Seebohm. Incidentally 

 Dr. Sharpe sketches the growth of the Ornithological Department of the 

 British Museum during the last twenty-five years, from a collection of 

 about 40,000 specimens to its present status of the " finest in the whole 

 world." The principal accessions are enumerated, and their distinctive 

 features stated. These are the Wallace, Gould, Sclater, Shellev, and 

 Sharpe collections; the magnificent Hume collection; the Tweeddale 

 collection: and the great Salvin-Godman American-collection. Nearly 

 all have been donations from their former public-spirited and distinguished 

 owners. Until the reception of the Seebohm collection, the birds of 

 Europe and northern Asia were poorly represented. " Bv the splendid 

 bequest of Mr. Seebohm." savs Mr. Sharpe, " this vacuum in our 

 Pakearctic collections has been filled, though there is no one in the 

 Museum who does not feel that this addition to the strength of its 

 ornithological section has been attained only through the loss of one of 

 the truest friends of the institution which his dying wishes have enriched. 

 There has not yet been time to register and incorporate the specimens of 

 the Seebohm collection, but we know that we have now received the 

 principal collection of Pakearctic birds of modern times." Some years 

 since Mr. Seebohm presented to the British Museum his collection of 

 eggs. This latest gift includes "the Swinhoe collection of Chinese birds, 

 the Prior collection of Japanese birds, the series of specimens obtained by 

 Hoist in the Bonin and Loo-Choo Islands, and Formosa: and last but 

 not least, his own European and Siberian collections, the result of his 

 travels in all parts of Europe, and of his expeditions to the valleys of the 

 Petchora and the Yenesei." Also his great collections of Charadriida? 

 and Thrushes, the former the basis of his work on the ' Geographical 

 Distribution of the Charadriida,-,' the latter of his contemplated ' Mon- 

 ograph of the Turdida.', or Family of Thrushes.' It is certainly pleasant 

 to know that the ornithological treasures accumulated by Mr. Seebohm 

 have been deposited where they will be not only duly appreciated but 

 will contribute so effectively to the progress of ornithological research. 



