Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 63.djvu/50

46 sparrow, American robin, spotted sandpiper, Indian bunting, Baltimore oriole, red-winged blackbird, wood-thrush, oven-bird, rose-breasted grosbeak, scarlet tanager, vireo, king-bird, bobolink and quail. The last group to be installed is an excellent representation of the prairie-hen. These realistic imitations of birds and insects amid their environment of foliage, blossoms and grasses constitute a feature of the museum that appeals with peculiar interest to children. Under the head of zoology there are good collections of corals and shells; the latter with over two thousand specimens, representing two hundred and twenty-nine genera and one hundred and seven species. Entomology is represented by twenty cases of butterflies with a total of two hundred and thirty-five specimens, twenty-two cases of moths with three hundred and twenty-three specimens and five boxes containing orthoptera, gall wasps and micro-lepidoptera with ninety-seven specimens, and three cases showing the life history of moths. There is also a study collection of one hundred and seventy-two noctuid moths. Some notable additions have been made to the department of mammals in the past few years. Mention should be made of an albinistic northern Virginia deer, an unusually rare specimen. A muskrat group, measuring five feet by seven feet, six inches, and showing the home of the animal in winter and summer with the environment carefully reproduced has been recently installed.

Last summer the museum received two remarkable gifts, a group of elk and one of buffalo. Each requires a case sixteen by sixteen feet on the floor and twelve feet high. The elk family of three members is placed among barberry bushes, quaking ash trees, moss-covered logs and stumps, in a veritable imitation of a woodland scene. Remarkable skill has been shown in the mounting of the animals, the arrangement of material and the modeling of the plant life, the leaves and blossoms. A bit of open prairie, with characteristic vegetation, constitutes the setting for the group of bison and is as effective in all respects as that of the elk. These additions are a means of attracting visitors and thus promote the popularity of the museum. As specimens of native animals, whose numbers are rapidly decreasing, their value will increase with years. The mounted mammals are supplemented by a series of skeletons of typical vertebrates. Attention is now being given to the better development of the department of mammals, especially in the direction of the local fauna.

In the upper story of the front portion of the museum building, there is on exhibition material in archeology, historical curios and ethnology. The Indian relics are of wide range in kind and geographical distribution, and the Connecticut Valley in which Springfield is situated is well represented. Out of a total of over three thousand specimens, seven hundred and sixty-six are from this valley and four