The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1893-12-29
THE STUDY or BIRDS.
A Valuable Collection Given to Har-
ward College.

How Me Scott Conceived Il Valuable Pa
ferent Methods of Mounting-The Eject
Upon Birds OF Environment.
One of the most valuable additions which
has ever been made TO the AgassiZ Mt
scum of Comparative Zoology at Cam
bridge is Il collection of 5000 birds-made
by Mr.. w. E. D. Scott-from the United
States and West Indies About 100 of
these are mounted, the remainder being
in the form technically known to natural
lists as bird skins-that is, they look sim
ply like dead birds, that can be mounted
at any time. Ever since Mr.. Scott grad
uated from Harvard college in 1878 this
plan of making an pathological collec-
tion has been the great object of his life,
and to give this collection to the Agassiz
museum has been his desire, which is now
accomplished.
Mr. Scott is, through his writings, one
Of the best known collectors of birds in the
world. He was one of the original mem
bers of the Nutal club of Cambridge, and
his first paper before that society, entitled
u I1Ibldl lllSu u uu6 OuulucI olTuS VI
Kanawha County," was the first of the
series which are now regularly published
by the society. His first work, and one
that attracted attention in the whole Or
astrological world, as well as the atten-
ton of astronomers, was brought about
by what seems now to be a singular coin
cidence. Happening to be at one time in
the observatory connected with Princeton
I. h. 1.o IL,
the telescope at the moon. While doing
SO, he noticed what seemed to be num-
Der of small objects fitting across the lu-
minous disk. He asked what they were
and was informed that it was common
occurrence to see these birds flying across
the range of the telescope. So common was
it, in fact, that the astronomers had paid
no attention to the matter, but of course
such an occurrence invited the attention
of man the main object of whose life was
to birds and bird life.
Hehad heard time and again farmers and
backwoodsmen speak of the sound of birds
flying by night, and here was an actual
proof of the fact, as we'll as chance to
make mathematical calculation on the
subject, for, upon examination of the SUBJ
JCCc, IL Was lOuuo ui1du, given UuO lOCdl
length of the lens and the other data
which the astronomer could furnish, the
fight of the birds could be determined
with some degree of accuracy. And not
only this, but the kind Of bird could be
determined, because, as every one knows,
each bird has it's own peculiar method of
fight, which could readily be determined
against the bright disk of the moon through
telescope.
The final result of this circumstance was
paper upon the subject, which was trans
lated into nearly every modern language,
and this method is now known as the
"Scott method of determining the flight
of birds by night So highly are Mr..
Scott's opinions valued upon matters per-
tanning to birds that the British museum
recently bought collection made by him,
of some 1850 Florida birds, at his own
valuation, and without even seeing the
collection.
1t was here in Florida that the writer
met Mr.. Scott, surrounded by his collec-
tions and implements for stufing and
keeping the birds. For years Mr.. Scott
has made as his speciality the study of
Florida birds and has been indefatigable
N his efforts to make his collection COM
plete He has now removed them to his
home in Pocantico Hills, N. Y. The first
point which the visitor notices, on seeing
the collection, is the lifelike manner in
which the birds are mounted. Instead of
the conventional methods always en-
ployed heretofore by professional taxider-
mists, Mr.. Scott has brought out the pose
of the bird in actual life.
Nearly all collections of birds which
have so far been made have been built up
upon an absolutely systematic basis. In
the collection proposed for Harvard, the
birds are to be rendered as lifelike as pos
sible-that is to say, artistic-whilea at the
same time they shall lose nothing of their
scientific value. Heretofore the external
features of the bird have been shown with
the name attached to each specimen, indi-
eating the species. The specimens have
been displayed in rows, each one standing
on a perch made from turned wood and
T shaped, either painted white or else made
of hard wood, vanished. Such a method
has always limited the position in which
the bird could be placed. The visitors to
museums have wondered why every bird
should be standing in just that particular
way, with both feet firmly planted upon
the perch, and looking for all the world as
if he were one of an army.
This is wholly artificial, and in contra
distinction to it birds should be mounted
on simple, natural accessories. By such a
method the warbler or the wren should be
shown naturally balanced upon the sway
ing twig, and the woodpecker would be
clinging to the trunk Of a tree; the gull's
environment would be bit of the sea-
shore, artiicially represented. So it will
be seen that the idea is for each bird to
give glimpse Of the environment in which
it lives. But these surroundings should
always be a subordinate part of the exhi-
bition, allowing the central figure of the
specimen to be the conspicuous object.
The second point to bring out in this
collection is the effect of physical environ
ment on such species as are now migratory
and range uninterruptedly over large geo.
graphical areas. This is to be done in con-
nection with and by the aid of diagramat-
ic maps. To illustrate what is meant, the
common quail ranges from Massachusetts
to Florida and from the eastern coast to
Dakota Sportsmen who kill this bird in
different parts of the country have fire.
quently asked if they ale different birds
and why those found in different parts of
the country are smaller or lnroar dorlyo1.