THE MUSEUM. 
5 
carpet rags was hailed with delight, and they were promptly adjusted to the outside, a 
number of ends being allowed to depend from the margin and bottom, for a distance of 
fourteen inches, whether for ornament or protection, I cannot say, but I am half in¬ 
clined to believe that the latter was the object uppermost in the minds of the builders, 
for, looking from below at the nest, it seemed merely a mass of rags that had been 
thrown into the crotch and become lodged. 
The common ruby-throated humming-bird of the eastern half of the United States 
is known to make a nest which is not easily imitated by another species. Nests have 
been found by the writer, formed of the yellowish wool of the undeveloped fronds 
of the fern, and others of red shoddy—the refuse of some woolen factory—instead 
of the soft down of the seeds of the poplar. But the most remarkable structure of all 
was found in Germantown, in the summer of 1883. It was saddled upon the horizontal 
bough of a white oak, and is peculiar from the nature of the inner fabric. This is a 
brown woolly substance plucked from a species of fungus, possibly a Sphceria , which 
for softness and pliability is admirably suited for nest-building. Nothing of the kind, 
I think, has ever before been recorded. 
For The Museum. 
A NOTED COLLECTOR. 
Mr. William Bragge, f.s.a., f.r.g.s, whose untimely death occurred at Birmingham, 
England, on June 14th, 1884, was one of the few ardent and systematic collectors of 
international reputation. He was chiefly known in America as the owner of the largest 
collection of tobacco pipes ever formed. His early life was marked by a keen interest 
in all that passed around him, and at the age of twelve he was a pronounced collector. 
Entering into partnership with a cousin of similar tastes, the two worked hard to store 
their “ museum,” as they called the little room in which they kept their treasures, with 
the fossils of the district and with such foreign objects as they could with scanty pocket 
money obtain. 
At 22, he became a civil engineer, in which profession he found the work of his life. 
For twelve years he was superintending engineer in Brazil, where he was identified with 
the important enterprise of lighting the city of Rio de Janeiro with gas. He also sur¬ 
veyed the first mountain railway in that country, which led to the Emperor’s summer 
palace. For these and other services, the Emperor, who had contracted a strong 
regard for him, conferred upon him the high rank of Commander of the Order of the 
Rose. He was interested in a number of other engineering enterprises, and was con¬ 
nected with several prominent business firms in England. For many years he served, 
also, in the high office of Master Cutler of Sheffield. Some of his numerous important 
collections have become world-famous. He gathered together a large series of rare 
and valuable manuscripts and illuminated missals ; objects of delicate workmanship in 
iron of ancient times; a curious collection of bindings, and another of cutlery of all 
nations. His celebrated Cervantes collection of books, numbering about 1500 volumes, 
which he presented to the city of Birmingham, included every book by or about the 
