196 REPORT OF THE COUNCIL. 



chief desideratum for this section of the museum now is the 

 provision of framed photographs, which could very well be 

 fixed above the desk-cases, illustrating the appearance and 

 manner of life of the various races whose productions are 

 represented in the collection. 



The new set of British birds' nests, which was mentioned 

 in the last report as having been taken in hand, has been fitted 

 up in one of the large desk-cases in the bird room, and has 

 proved an attractive addition. It is a companion set to that 

 of the British birds' eggs installed last year. Most of the 

 nests — which in nearly all cases contain eggs — are shown in 

 glass-topped boxes ; some to which this method is not applic- 

 able are placed on trays or stands, and a few of the largest 

 are of necessity shown in a wall-case in the gallery. Mr. S. 

 Graham has here again, as in the work on the eggs, given 

 much valuable help, in addition to contributing largely from 

 his own cabinets to the new set. Much may still be -done 

 with advantage in filling gaps and replacing inferior examples. 

 I am at present doing some labelling in the Hancock bird 

 collection. The rather numerous birds that have been added 

 since the original installation were marked only by rough 

 data-tags; I am now removing these tags and labelling the 

 birds in uniformity with the rest. 



A little progress has been made with the geological index 

 cases, intended to provide a simple summary of the past 

 history of life on the earth. The plan adopted has met with 

 approval from a number of people, and it is hoped that 

 quicker progress towards a completion of the series of index- 

 cases may now be made. The skeleton ot the hippopotamus, 

 presented several years ago by the Rev. R. Stewart Wright, 

 has been mounted, and forms a striking and valuable addition 

 to the set of skeletons in the museum. The mounting in- 

 volved many difficulties, but was carried out very satisfactorily 

 by Mr. D. Knight of Edinburgh, with the help of Wm. Voutt. 

 The latter has done many useful and necessary pieces of work 

 during the year, in addition to the printing of the ethnology 

 labels. He has cleaned and painted the cases on the bird 



