The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-01-17
BIRDS AND BIRDS-EGGS
DR. WOODS COLLECTI0N THROWN
 OPEN TO THE PUBLIC.


 frustrated Lecture on Birds-An Interest ing Evening Afforded by the Scientific Society. Hartford, Jan. 13-The unique and highly valuable collection of birds and birds'-eggs, made by the late Dr, Will liam Wood Of East Windsor Hill, and by his heirs presented to the Hartford Scientific society, was opened last night to the public. The collection, which in cludes, besides 2,500 eggs, a thousand specimens of our native birds and oth- CTS, from eagles to humming birds, and few animals, is not yet all mounted,- for the exhibition place on the first floor of the Athenaaum is not spacious enough to hold them. It was the wish of Dr. Woods family to have the city provide a fireproof building for the col lection, as the condition of receiving 1t; but this could not we'll be done, and the precious gift of the whole unique col lection has since been made to the Hartford Scientific society. It was an- nounced last night that the collection will for the present be open, free, to the public on Wednesday and Saturday afternoons from 2 till o'clock.
 The collection is exhibited in alcoves, and enclosed in glass-fronted cases-the generous gift of Dr. Woods sister, Mrs Martha w, Brown, now deceased. The need of more room for 1t is very deci- dedly felt, and it is hoped the Scientific society, whose beralsinauguration of the opening night was so highly en- joyed by such a crowd, last night will receive financial encouragement in their effort to extend the valuable col lection and get it into more roomy quarters. Much credit is due to pr. George IL. Parmele, the president of the society, to John H. Sage, of Portland, and to w. E. Treat of East Hartford for the good work thus far accom- plished.
 The collection is richly worth visiting to all lovers of birds land who is notD, for the native birds of Connecticut are here better represented than they have ever been before. Mir Frank M Chap man, curator of the department of Vertebrate Zoology in the New York Museum of Natural History, who dis coursed last night to crowd in the picture gallery of the Athenaeum on our native birds, said that this collec- ton, so enthusiastically made as his lifework by pr. Wood, though sur passed in size by the collection in New York far eclipses that collection in the fullness of it's representation of our na- tive birds.
 MIR. CHAPMAN'S BIRD-TALK.
 The picture gallery in the Athenaeum was over-crowded. People were eager to see the bird pictures in colors, which were so clearly brought out on the screen, and to hear MT. Chapman de- scribe some of their peculiarities. Dr. Parmele made some pertinent prefato- ry remarks, and was followed by Mr. s. E. Fillmore, who gave brief bio graphical sketch of Dr. William Woods life and work
 Mr. Chapman then gave an informal talk on "Our Common Birds in Their Haunts,' with illustrations on the screen. These were so numerous that it would take too much space to report them seriatim. Beginning with the wax wing the lecturer showed in succession long list of our more or less common birds, and gave many interesting de- tails of their haunts and habits. There were shown (and described) the wren, the chimney swift, the cowbird, the blackbird, the rosebreasted grosbeak, the king bird the thrushes and vireos, the whippoorwill and the nighthawk two very distinguished birds), the owls, the woodpeckers, hawks, the shrike, the partridge woodcock, and many more, all of which were brought out to the very life. The crowded audience seem ed intensely interested. The lecturer spoke rather two rapidly, and not at all points very distinctly to those in the middle and rear of the room. The bird pictures were varied by views Gin col ors also), of the haunts of the birds in meadow, field, and woodland-charming pictures, which gave realistic October scenes, and the May-time days of nest ing and song. Most of the views were taken in the region of particular To- cahty on and around the Hackensack river in New Jersey.
 Drawing his boat to the shore in the woods, MT. Chapman said he had got behind 8 tree and succeeded in calling the owls about him. and in eliciting their hooting. When as many as three owls got near each other, 1t was inter- esting to hear them talk For, talk and answer they did, said the lecturer-and nobody who ever heard them could ever doubt it. It was very entertaining to hear the parent owls talk to and in- struct their young, and the responses of the latter
 The whippoorwill, the speaker bird, is a ground bird, who never scars; while the nighthawk, on the contrary, is a sky roaner. His 'peent," "peent," can be heard, and the bird seen-usually in company--in the upper air, in the May and June twilight, and well into the fol- lowing darkness, flying over our cities He sometimes makes his nest on the fiat roofs of New York city. The early summer night in Boston Is alive with these crepuscular bird, flying over the Back Bay streets especially. The indi- viduality of the whippoorwill, as con- trasted with the nighthawk, was very distinctly shown in the picture of the two birds-the former on the ground the latter diving headlong from on high and seeming as if he would dash him. self to death by striking the ground but the very instant he comes within 6 yard of the surface, he turns, like g flash, and sails upward again. As hs turns, the rush of air through his large