80 The Origin and Development of Museums. [ February, 
which borders upon the woods, where live the hairy woodpeckers, 
— whose relations, the downy woodpeckers, I do not remember to 
have often seen here,—and also the three-toed woodpeckers ( Pi- 
cus arcticus), of which I have seen but one pair; the yellow-bel- 
lied woodpeckers, regarding which I may make the same remark; 
the great log-cocks (H. pileatus), which particularly affect old 
forests and backwoods ; and the common flickers (Colaptes au- 
ratus). (These birds are the seventeen representatives of the 
Picarian group, and five of these do not regularly breed in Massa- 
chusetts.) I have seen no birds of prey, except occasionally four 
hawks: red-tail, sparrow-hawk, sharp-shinned hawk, and marsh 
hawk; a golden eagle; and as to the game-birds, there are wild 
pigeons, ruffed grouse, one pair of woodcock, no snipe, but a few 
ignominious sandpipers (T. macularius ; also R. solitarius ?) in 
their stead. With these five latter birds and one accidental heron 
(once seen flying over the valley) I close this perhaps imperfect 
Bethlehem, twenty - one of which are not summer residents in 
Massachusetts, unless irregularly so. M any of these birds repre- 
sent a Canadian fauna; some belong to that and the Alleghanian 
fauna too, whereas a few belong entirely to the latter. These facts 
show that Bethlehem is situated on the line between these two 
faunæ, and contains an interesting admixture of birds which be- 
long to different areas of distribution. 
THE HISTORY OF THE ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT 
OF MUSEUMS. 
BY DR. H. A. HAGEN. 
(POLLECTION S of objects of natural history are indispensable 
nowadays to the naturalist in his studies, The advantage of 
such collections to the student is indeed very obvious, as the study 
of natural history consists chiefly in comparison. Every deserip- 
tion, every observation, is more or less a comparative one, even if 
the object compared is not mentioned ; and it is easily understood’ 
that richer and more complete collections help to a more com- 
plete study, a more perfect work. The history of the origin and 
development of collections of natural history is not devoid of in- 
terest, perhaps even profitable for science and for the important 
question as to which would be the most convenient arrangement of 
a collection. The materials for such a history are scanty, for those 
