ORNITHOLOGIST 



[Vol. 10-No. 6 



THE 



ORNITHOLOGIST 



— AND — 



OOLOGIST. 



A MOXTJILr MAGAZINE OF 



NATURAL HISTORY, 



ESPECIALLY DEVOTED TO THE STUDT OF 



BIRDS. 



THETR XESTS AXD EGOS. 



DESIGNED AS A KEANS TOB THE INTERCHANGE OF NOTES 

 AND 0B9ERTAT10NS ON BIRD LIFE. 



FRANK B. WEBSTER, Publisher, 

 PAWTTJCKET, H. I. 



Editor's Notes. 



The British Museum will now contain a 

 collection of American Birds scarcely second 

 to that of our own Smithsonian Institute. 

 It is announced that Messrs. Salvin and 

 Godman have given their magnificent col- 

 lection of Neotroiiical birds, consisting of 

 about 23,000 specimens, to the British 

 nation. Almost at the same time the 

 museum authorities acquii-ed the Sclater 

 collection of about 9,000 more. 



In addition to these very considerable 

 additions to the avian possessions of the 

 museum, Mr. A. O. Hume's collection of 

 Indian birds, containing, it is said, some 

 G0,000 sijccimens, is about to be trans- 

 ferred to the British Museum. It is at 

 present at Simla, India. 



We have received from Mr. E. L. Brown, 

 of Durand, "Wis., a specimen bird em- 

 balmed by his new process. The appear- 

 ance of the bird is natiu'al and there is no 

 sign whatever, so far, of decay. "While we 

 do not think this process, or any similar 

 one, will entirely supersede the jDresent 

 method, it is worthy of attention as useful 

 under certain circumstances. For Reptiles, 

 also for arresting decay where circum- 

 stances delay the ordinary process, we 



think some such method as the one under 

 consideration, might be valuable. 



We are pleased to record the appoints 

 ment of Mr. J. A. Allen, of Cambridge, 

 Mass., the editor of the "Auk," to the posi- 

 tion of Curator of Mammals and Birds in 

 the Museum of Natural History, Central 

 Park, New York. 



The Late Dr. Alfred E. Brehm. 



The announcement of the death of Dr. 

 Brehm, now some six months since, caused 

 much regret to the friends whom he made 

 dm-ing his visit to the United States in 

 1880, and was felt as a loss by a wider 

 circle to whom his name was well known 

 as a naturalist of present eminence and 

 still greater promise. His father, Chris- 

 tian L. Brehm, was an ornithologist of 

 distinction, and his son early imbibed a 

 taste and an ajititude for similar researches. 

 He was fortunate in his surroundings, and 

 at the early age of eighteen (in 1847) was 

 selected by Baron J. W. von Miiller as his 

 ornithological assistant in his African trav- 

 els. This journey lasted five years, dur- 

 ing which they explored Egypt, Nubia and 

 Eastern Soudan, a district the resort of 

 many birds which migrate from Europe 

 for the Winter, as well as the permanent 

 abode of varieties not met with elsewhere. 

 His later travels included Spain (185G); 

 Norway and Lapland (1860) ; Abyssinia 

 (1862-3); Western Siberia (1876); Spain 

 again (1879); and North America (1880). 

 During this last journey he was attacked 

 by a violent fever. 



He leaves as memorials of a life spent 

 in zoological research, several works of 

 importance, amongst them his " Thierlebeu" 

 (animal life) in ten volumes, which 

 is specially noted as showing his " sympor- 

 thetic comprehension of animals as living 

 beings." 



In the death of Dr. Brehm the ornithol- 

 ogical world has lost one whom it can ill 

 spare, and whose place will not readily be 

 filled. 



