THE NORFOLK AND NORWICH MUSEUM. 
499 
branches of natural science has insured that no department should 
bo neglected ; whilst in its honorary secretaries the institution has 
been equally favoured, as the names of GrilKn, St. Quintin, and 
Stevenson will amply testify. It will be found, therefore, that 
whilst the general collection of Raptorial birds — the peculiar care of 
its present distinguished President — is especially excellent, the 
Zoology, Entomology, Geology, and Botany of a district peculiarly 
rich in each of these departments are all illustrated in the local 
collections with exceptional completeness. 
It is not my purpose to refer, except en passant, to the Lombe 
collection of British birds, to the rich collections of Crag and Chalk 
fossils, and above all the grand Forest-bed series presented by Mr. 
John Gunn, who is happily still alive to add from time to time to 
his noble gift ; to the Oological collection, contributed by J. i). 
Salmon and others; and a particularly rich Herbarium, also pre- 
sented by Mr. Salmon ; nor to the many local Ornithological 
rarities which have found a homo in the County Museum. But as 
our Honorary Secretary has suggested that it w'ould bo desirable to 
record from time to time some of the most interesting specimens 
which gravitate towards this most fitting centre, I shall be pleased, 
with the help of Mr. Stevenson, to comply with his re(|uest. 
Not to go too far into the past, the writer has a vivid recollection 
of leaving Martham Station, on the Eastern and Midlands Railway, 
one cold, wet morning in September, 1885, for a dreary drive to 
Horsey Hall, where the well-known local collection of birds made 
by the late ^Ir. Robert Rising was that morning to be disposed of 
by auction. Notwithshinding the dreary weather, and the in- 
accessible corner of the county in which Horsey is situated, the 
attendance at the sale was large, and events soon proved that tho.se 
present were eager buyers. The birds all being in excellent 
condition, and w^ell authenticated, sold for very high prices indeed. 
At the close of the day, however, through the liberality of Mr. 
J. J. Colman, Mr. S. G. Buxton, Mr. G. F. Buxton, and the late 
Mr. John Gurney, the Norwich Museum was possessed of a Black 
Stork, a Brown Snipe, a Red-crested Whistling Duck, and a 
Bulfel-headed Duck, all killed in the county of Norfolk, and which 
formed welcome additions to the rich collection of local birds 
already in that institution. Through the kindness of Mr. H. 
Birkbeck a specimen of Porphijrio smaragnotus, killed near Barton 
K K 2 
