Letters, Notes and Extracts. 367 
the Bronx River running through it, and its area is no less 
than 260 acres. 
At the time of my visit, in midwinter, very few of the 
animals or birds were outside, and the large “ Flying 
Aviary ”’ was practically empty, all the denizens having 
been removed to the neighbouring Bird-house and the 
Ostrich-house. Mr. Beebee has taken special interest in 
forming a collection of American Passerine Birds, a great 
many of which seem hardly ever to have been kept in 
captivity successfully before. He has also a fairly extensive 
collection of European small birds. All these are at present 
housed in one wing of the bird-house in large cages, running 
from the floor to the roof. In the centre of the main portion 
of the house is a large cage for Waders and Shore-birds, 
where I saw several American Skimmers, which I had never 
before met within confinement. Another bird which I do not 
recollect to have seen before in captivity was a Frigate-Bird ; 
this was in the other winter-house together with a number 
of the larger forms, such as Cranes and Herons. All the 
inhabitants of the Zoological Park were certainly in wonder- 
fully good condition, and spoke volumes for the care bestowed 
on them by Mr. Hornaday and Mr. Beebee. 
At the American Museum of Natural History I found 
Mr. Allen in charge of the Mammals, and Mr. Frank 
Chapman of the Birds. Among the exhibited series two 
great groups—Bird-lfe in the San Joaquin Valley and 
Flamingos breeding in the Bahamas—are probably familiar 
to most of your readers, as several photographic reproduc- 
tions of them have been published, but Mr. Chapman is now 
completing another series of bird-groups which certainly 
surpass anything that I have ever seen in beauty and vivid- 
ness. A series of separate installations have been arranged 
along a gallery directly under a row of windows ; between 
the installations and the public there is a boarded partition 
where windows are let in opposite each group. ‘The result 
is that the light is all concentrated on the exhibition 
while the visitor is in a comparatively dark corridor. In 
fact, the effect is very similar to that in an Aquarium. Each 
