The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1896-03-29
FOR A SUNDAY JAUNT
The Beautiful Views From the
University Grounds.
STROLL THROUGH THE MUSEUM
Fine Collection of the Beautiful Plum
aged Birds of the state, Including
All the Ducks.

Many readers were gratifed by the re-
cent article calling attention 10 the beau
ties of City park and kinnear park. and
the two fine Sundays that followed its
publication found many visitors to both
places. There is another beautiful spot
for Sunday outing. 10 be found in the
grounds of the University of Washington.
The campus, as part of 1t will be termed.
has been laid out, and the whole of the
grounds have been cleared and staked for
walks and shrubbery. For want of funds,
however. the work proceeds slowly. New
ertheiess, IL Is one of the most beautiful
spots in the neighborhood for the COM
bined majesty and loneliness of its sur
rounding scenery. Another attraction will
be the museum of natural history, but
whether this is to be open to the public or
not the administration Of the institution
has not yet discussed. Doubtless IL sufii-
Gent public interest is shown in the mat
ter. the regents of the university will raise
little objection
Prof. o. B. Johnson, so .ng connected
with the university, and iatterly as cura-
tor, has had to retire owing to ill-health.
and tomorrow his place in the museum
will be filed by Henry H. Hindshaw. who
for some time has been doing his work.
Mr.. Hindshaw is a young man who has.
however. had a wide and valuable expert
ence of what he will be called upon to do.
He was assistant curator of Peel Park
museum, Manchester one of the most
famous in the British isles, where he was
reckoned an expert taxidermist. He came
to the Worlds fair, however, as assistant
chief of the Horticulture department. but
while there articulated the skeleton of the
mammoth found at Spokane for the state
of Washington, and did some taxidermic
work for the Australian government that
al a fai
study is geology, but he is also well up in
all lines of natural history.
At present Mr.. Hindshaw is busy getting
up a collection of the birds of the state,
stufiing and mounting them himself. and
in many instances shooting or trapping
the specimens himself. Last Monday he
had the good fortune TO shoot at Port
Washington the finest pair of herons ever
seen in the state. The male bird stands
wings is six feet six inches. He has them
both already mounted. and they are indeed
magnificent specimens.
The collection of waterfowl is especially
interesting. and of ducks the museum has
now probably specimens of every species
native to the state. There is the putin, or
sea parrot, that haunts the Straits; the
guillemot, that sailors have christened the
sea robin, though for what reason it is
plumage: and the smallest and most beau
tiful of the duck family, the butter-ball.
Then there is the surf duck, or scooter, and
the velvet scooter. and pair of handsome
looms that came from Lake Washington.
The collection of song birds of the state
will be a surprise to most people, as will
the gorgeous beauty of the plumage of
these northern members of the bird fam
lily. There are several hundred of these
waiting to be mounted, among them the
lovely laZuli finch the violet-backed swal-
low, the oriole. the cedar bird. or waxwing
the Lewis woodpecker, and the humming
bird with breast of flame
One of the most curious animals in the
collection is the sewellal or ground beav-
er. called by the Indians showtle. 1t is by
far too abundant on the university
grounds in its natural state. and is prob
ably more common in this neighborhood
than elsewhere in the state. II Is the shape
of a beaver without the TAIL of a dark
gray. and about the size of a muskrat. 1t
is undoubtedly a degenerate species of
beaver which left the water for the land,
tired of the labor of dam building But IL
is an industrious and wise little beast 1t
prefers a community life and its commu-
nifty tunnels are always constructed on a
plan calculated to give a regular water
supply during the season of Information
II has winter storehouses for food at con-
venient points in these tunnels, and its
nests show great constructive skill.
The museum is rather poverty-stricken
in its animal division, but so far as those
native to the state are concerned Mr.
Hindshaw and his rife will soon supply
the deficiency. Now that the matter is
drawn 10 the attention of sportsmen and
others many excellent specimens will no
doubt be donated to this purpose. OF geo.
logical specimens and fossils there is an
excellent display, many of which were ex-
hihited at the Chicago Worlds fair