20 Hefokt on the New York State Museum. 



have been attached. We can also assume with certainty that Mr. 

 Oebhard, in whose handwriting the label is, when the specimen 

 was purchased, asked the taxidermist, Mr. Hurst, the locality the 

 bird came from, and at the time when the fact was fresh in the 

 mind of Mr. Hurst the locality "• Long Island " was added to the 

 record. Mr. Hurst could have had no object in substituting a 

 specimen of the European Curlew for our own form in the ISTew 

 York State collection, as a specimen of the Long-billed Curlew 

 would be much easier to obtain, and further, the cost of a 

 specimen of the European form would have been much greater. 

 That he could have made the substitution knowingly is out of 

 the question, as he was a man of the utmost probity of character 

 and one whose statements could be depended upon implicitly. 

 To further substantiate the fact that this specimen was taken 

 in America it was submitted to Mr. William Palmer, taxidermist 

 of the j^ational Museum, Washington, D. C, and Mr. Jenness 

 Richardson, taxidermist of the American Museum of ISTatural 

 History, New York, who were present at the Congress, and -they 

 without hesitation, after examination, pronounced the specimen 

 to have been mounted from a bird freshly killed and not from a 

 dried skin. — Wm. Dutcher, ]^ew York City. 



