MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY. 39 



Still more unlucky was the fate which befell a collection of 

 Western birds, chiefly from Colorado and Arizona, which Mr. 

 George L. Toppan, of Chicago, formally presented to the Mu- 

 seum last April. This collection contained about one thousand 

 skins, and included many rare and valuable specimens ; but before 

 it could be packed and forwarded to Cambridge it was wholly 

 destroyed by the burning of the storage warehouse in which it 

 had been temporarily placed. 



Early in the present year Mr. Scott obtained funds sufficient to 

 begin his artistic collection of mounted birds. Indeed, he has 

 made much more than a beginning, for he has already placed 

 on exhibition in one of the Exhibition Rooms no less than fifty-six 

 cases containing about one hundred and seventy-five specimens. 

 These are mounted in spirited and original attitudes, for Mr. 

 Scott disregards the conventions of his art and models his birds 

 after his own ideas and impressions. Many of his subjects are 

 very lifelike, and the best are masterpieces. With respect to 

 what are technically called " accessories" — that is, the branches, 

 stumps, rocks, etc., on or among which the birds are placed — 

 Mr. Scott's taste is severely simple and hence altogether admi- 

 rable. It is to be hoped that nothing will occur to prevent him 

 from carrying out his plans for the further increase and elabora- 

 tion of this collection, for it can scarcely fail to become one of 

 the chief popular attractions of the Museum. 



The Assistant in this Department has published the following 

 notes and papers in "The Auk": — 



Notes and Song-flight of the Woodcock (Philohela minor). 



Breeding of the Prairie Horned Lark (Otocoris alpestris praticola) 

 near Pittsfield, Mass. 



Notes on the Habits of the Northern Shrike {Lanius borealis). 



A remarkable Plumage of the Prairie Hen (Tympcmuchus americanus) . 



Notes on Certain Flycatchers of the Genus Empidonax. 



The White Gyrfalcon in New England. 



Second Occurrence of Harris's Sparrow (Zonotrichia queruld) in British 

 Columbia. 



A Ground Nest of the Black-throated Green Warbler. 



Notes on Birds observed in Trinidad (by William Brewster and Frank 

 M. Chapman). 



A remarkable Flight of Pine Grosbeaks (Pinicola enucleator). 



The Assistant has also edited a second edition of Mr. H. D. 

 Minot's "Land Birds and Game Birds of New England," which 

 appeared in March, 1895. 



