Letters, Extracts, Notices, ^c. 187 



(2) The collection of Arctic birds formed by Mr. J. Bar- 

 row, F.R.S,, and presented to the Miisenm by that gentleman. 

 This interesting collection, which has been well described by 

 Mr. Harting (P. Z. S. 1871, p. 110), is placed in the gallery. 

 It is well mounted and correctly named. But it is a question 

 whether it is desirable to keep it apart from the general 

 series. 



(3) The British series, also placed in the gallery, which is 

 in fair order, although it also requires revision and rearrange- 

 ment according to some modern system. It ought not to be 

 diflScult to find some member of the B. O. U. to undertake 

 this task, provided that the authorities will allow him a " free 

 hand.^^ 



Besides the mounted specimens there are, as I under- 

 stand, a large number of skins of birds, mostly " put away " 

 in boxes in various parts of the building. Of these the only 

 portion I was able to see was the collection formed by Mr. W. 

 H. Treacher in Borneo, and partly described by Dr. Bowdler 

 Sharpe in 1879 (see Ibis, 1879, p. 233). This is placed in 

 some drawers in the main hall. The other collections are 

 stated to be " boxed up,'^ and kept partly in a room on the 

 ground-floor and partly in some " upper chamber,^^ to which 

 no ready access is possible. 



I venture to suggest that one of the side rooms on the 

 ground-floor should be cleared of its heterogeneous contents 

 and devoted to the bird-skins, to be arranged here in cabi- 

 nets, so as to be accessible to the ornithologist. It is hardly 

 right for a great and rich University to accept collections of 

 birds from those who, in the words of Bonaparte, put forward 

 on a similar occasion, " croyants qu'ils travaillaient pour la 

 Science, n'ont travaille que pour les mites"*. 



* Some remarks nearly similar to these were published in ' Nature ' for 

 October 1st, 1891, I am much pleased to hear that they have attracted 

 attention, and that the rearrangement and improvement of the collections 

 of birds, as well as of other objects in the Museum, are occupying the atten- 

 tion of the University authorities. — P. L. S. 



