4056 The Zoologist — July, 1874. 



differenles — Piro-piio jambe Uinghe, Savi, Orn. Tosc. vol. ii. p. 278 

 — Gould, Birds of Europe, part 10, plumage d'ele." — Teimninck, 

 Manuel d'Ornitholof/ie, vol. iv. p. 414. 



Ternminck informs us that the species inhabits the north of 

 Europe, and frequents the banks of rivers ; in emigration it passes 

 southwards through the eastern countries of Europe until it reaches 

 the Mediterranean : never along the shores of the ocean. It nests 

 within the Arctic Circle, but its eggs are unknown. 



It will be well to observe that Mr. Roberts makes no mention of 



having seen the specimen, and of course I have not, neither have 



I any means of verifying Mr. Edson's determination of the species, 



but I think it well to make the announcement, and therefore have 



given all the information in my power. 



Edward Newman. 



A Word about Museums. By C. B. Carey. 



The word "museum" has a very dull sound. It gives one the 

 idea of a smoke-dried looking building, in which one gets very 

 dusty, very hungry, and very cross; where the curator looks as if 

 he came out of a sarcophagus, and where there is a dusty, musty 

 smell, reminding one strongly of the fulmar petrel. A museum is a 

 place in which not only dead animals are preserved, but dead 

 energies. Those who first started the idea of having a museum in 

 any place, took an interest in it, arranged it, saw it grow larger, 

 had it kept in good order. Then, when they are gone, the museum 

 is left as a mark of what they have spent their energy in, and it 

 remains the same day after day and year after year, till the birds 

 are covered with dust, the eggs faded, the butterflies — each 

 hanging on a solitary crooked pin — flutter in a grimy case, and 

 the shells look fossilized with age. It is hard to say which is 

 more strange — that any one should care to set on foot a museum, 

 knowing how it will fall into decay, through the want of care of 

 after generations, or that, having a museum in a good state of 

 preservation, it should be left neglected. 



The museum here has slept in debt for some years, but last 

 summer it awoke and opened its doors to those who cared to enter; 

 but it had become slightly more dusty and disordered than was 

 pleasant. It was sad to see the good birds in so helpless a state 



