500 
NATURE 
[ Sept. 24, 1885 
Creaking, at other times, as 
when a sail strikes against 
the mast or flaps before the 
wind 
Partly whizzing, partly as when 
a sail flaps before the wind 
As when a sail flaps before the 
wind 
As when a thunder-clap passed 
over us from west to east 
Soft crackling, as from electric 
sparks from an_ electrical 
machine 
As when stroking a cat’s back 
against the hairs 
Christiania, September 16 SopHus TROMHOLT 
A White Swallow 
DuRING our walk to-day on the Kendal Road, near Hevers- 
ham, my brother and Iwere very much surprised to see a white 
swallow amongst a number of the ordinary kind. The bird’s 
plumage was entirely white, except the lower part of the breast, 
which was greyish. 
We are quite sure of its identity, as it flew around us several 
times. 
Can you tell us whether a white swallow is really an uncommon 
sight ? Mary Briccs 
Sandside, near Milnethorpe, Westmoreland, September 4 
THE HUME COLLECTION OF ASIATIC BIRDS 
ce some time past the interest of ornithologists has 
been aroused by the rumour that Mr. A. O. Hume, 
of Simla, had offered, or intended to give, his celebrated 
collection of Asiatic Birds to the Trustees of the British 
Museum ; and | am glad to be able to inform the readers 
of NATURE that the whole of this collection is now safely 
housed in the Natural History Museum, the second half 
having been delivered by the P. and O. Company on the 
18th of last month. 
Those of our readers who are not ornithologists may 
wish to learn something in the first place about the collec- 
tion itself and its generous donor. 
Mr. A. O. Hume, C.B., occupied formerly a high 
position in the Bengal Civil Service, and devoted for 
many years his leisure hours to the study of ornithology, 
and especially of the birds of India. His aim was to form 
a collection of birds of every part of the British Asian 
Empire, in which every species should be represented by 
a complete series of specimens illustrating its range and 
its variations of colour according to age, season, or | 
locality. For this purpose he organised a system under 
which a great number of local observers and collectors 
(in some years numbering nearly 100) worked for and | 
with him. He fitted out expeditions with a staff of 
collectors and taxidermists, under his own leadership or | 
that of his able former curator, Mr. Davison, into Scinde, 
Coorg, Manipur, the Malayan Peninsula, Tennasserim, 
and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands ; he acquired by | 
purchase or donation the Mandelli collection from Sikkim | 
and Tibet, Brook’s beautiful series from North-Western 
and Central India, Adam’s Sambhur birds, Bingham’s 
collections from Delhi and Tennasserim, Scully’s collec- 
tion from Turkestan. The expense incurred in forming 
this collection was in proportion to the enthusiasm with 
which Mr. Hume worked. He had built at Simla a 
museum for the reception of the collection which should 
finally form the basis for the preparation of a compre- 
hensive work on the avifauna of the vast region which he | 
was exploring. But whilst thus engaged Mr. Hume, with 
his wonderful activity and ready pen, which had rendered 
him facile princeps in all matters regarding Indian orni- 
thology, published numerous papers in an ornithological 
periodical, Stray Feathers, which he founded and con- 
ducted for ten or eleven years, as well as several separate 
works —viz. “Notes on the Indian Raptores,” “ Nests 
and Eggs of Indian Birds,” “ List of the Birds of India,” 
“Game Birds of India, Burmah, and Ceylon,” and others. 
However, during the last few years naturalists, to their 
great regret, became aware that Mr. Hume’s interest in 
ornithology began to yield to other important matters of | 
social and political nature ; and finally, the grievous loss 
by theft of an enormous mass of ornithological manu- 
scripts, comprising his materials for “The Birds of the 
British Asian Empire,” and the whole of his Museum 
Catalogue, contributed to his determination to abandon 
his intention of working out his collection, and to present 
it to some museum where others might utilise the materials 
he had collected. 
It is very gratifying that Mr. Hume, “considering the 
British Museum as the one that has most claims upon 
him, and Mr. Sharpe as the man most capable in Europe 
of doing justice to the collection,” offered to present it to 
the Trustees of that institution. The Trustees, fully aware 
of the scientific importance of the collection, had no 
hesitation in accepting the offer. Still, before actually 
transferring the collection, Mr. Hume was desirous of 
completely rearranging and placing it in thorough good 
order, and also of preparing at the same time a Catalogue of 
the Birds of the Indian Empire containing the results of 
his long and careful studies. Unfortunately this project 
could not be carried out owing to the difficulty of finding 
a competent coadjutor in the work, or rather of obtaining 
the means of properly remunerating such a person. And 
as there was great risk in leaving the collection without 
due curatorial supervision exposed to the deteriorating 
influences of another rainy season in India, the Trustees 
obtained Mr. Hume’s consent to transmitting the collec- 
tion without further delay to England. 
Mr. Sharpe, who is always ready to sacrifice his 
personal comfort to duty, started for Simla almost at a 
moment’s notice, and although, unseasoned as he was, he 
had to travel and work during the hottest part of the 
year, he seems to have infused his energy into all who 
had to help him in the gigantic task of packing the collec- 
tion. He started on April 25, arrived in Simla on May 21, 
completed his work by the end of June, and returned to 
the Museum on August 15, having the satisfaction to find 
on his return the half of the collection which had pre- 
ceded him safely lodged in the Museum, while the other 
half was delivered a week later without loss of, or damage 
to, any of the cases. 
The collection comprises about 400 skins of mammals, 
63,000 skins of birds, 300 nests, and 18,500 eggs. It was 
packed in eighty-two cases, the majority with a capacity 
of 30 cubic feet. Even to those who are used to the 
inspection of large collections, these figures can hardly 
convey a correct idea of the magnitude of this addition to 
the National Museum. Mr. Hume may truly say that 
such a collection has never been made before ; and such 
will probably never be made again. Each specimen is 
, enveloped in a brown paper wrapper with the name of 
the species and locality written on the outside, proper 
labels being, besides, attached to the specimen. The 
skins themselves are in excellent condition, and, thanks 
to the precautions taken by Mr. Sharpe, they are not 
likely to harbour or to develop destructive inmates. 
Specimens which had suffered from damp or insects and 
to which no special interest was attached, were eliminated 
during packing. 
The scientific value of the collection, of course, is not 
to be measured by the number of specimens only, but by 
the judgment which determined their selection, by the 
history attached to many of them, and by the complete- _ 
ness of the series. We may reasonably assume that it 
contains about 2000 species, so that on an average each 
species is represented by some thirty specimens, which 
number in the majority of the cases would not go beyond 
a fair illustration of its range and variation. Therefore 
the number of duplicates which will be eliminated by 
Mr. Sharpe during the progress of the examination will 
probably be much smaller than one might anticipate on a 
superficial inspection ; and I need not say that Mr. Hume’s 
earnest wish that the series which he has brought together 
with so much discrimination and care should remain 
—— 
— 2 
Se Se 
