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 (Picus arcticus), of which I have seen but one pair; the yellow-bellied 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 auratus). (These birds are the seventeen representatives of the Picarian group, and five of these do not regularly breed in Massachusetts.) 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 list of the eighty-three birds which are summer residents at Bethlehem, twenty-one of which are not summer residents in Massachusetts, unless irregularly so. Many of these birds represent 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 belong to different areas of distribution.
The History of the Origin and Development of Museums.
By Dr. H. A. Hagen.
Collections 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 description, 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 complete study, a more perfect work. The history of the origin and development of collections of natural history is not devoid of interest, 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
