Dec. 1847.] 347 



British Museum, have been secured for this Society through the exertions of 

 Mr. Edward Wilson, now residing in England. 



To this gentleman the collections of the Society are indebted in a de- 

 gree second only to that of his distinguished brother. 



Independently of his immediate agency in obtaining the Rivoli collection 

 and that of M. Bourcier, the collections made by him, personally, in various 

 cities of Europe, evince at once his love of Natural History, his excellent 

 judgment and his just appreciation of the wants of the natural sciences in 

 this his native country. 



Mr. Wilson's ornithological collections, in the aggregate, amount to 

 several thousand specimens, a portion of which, only, has been received ; 

 but that portion contains some of our most valuable acquisitions. I will 

 mention a fine specimen of Haliaetus pelagicus, (Pall.) from Behring's 

 Straits, a species which is probably the largest of known FalconidaE, and is 

 especially interesting to American Ornithologists from the fact of its being 

 an inhabitant of the northern regions of this continent ; also a beautiful 

 specimen of the Meleagris ocellata, Temm., the second species of Turkey 

 discovered a few years since in Yucatan. 



For almost the whole of the large collection of Humming Birds the 

 Society is indebted to the same gentleman. 



One other collection, which is to be delivered to this Society early in the 

 coming year, remains to be noticed, and that is Mr. John Gould's collection 

 of the birds of Australia. 



When I inform the Society that this collection contains specimens of all 

 the known Australian birds, except five species, and of the nests and eggs 

 of a large number, its peculiar value will be immediately understood. I 

 may be excused for remarking, however, that Mr. Gould's collection acquires 

 additional interest from the consideration that it contains the original speci- 

 mens from which many of the numerous species described by him were first 

 characterized, and that the specimens comprised in his collection are those 

 from which the drawings were made for his latest and splendid work, " The 

 Birds of Australia." 



The number of specimens now contained in the collection and those 

 which will be received in the course of the ensuing year, according to ar- 

 rangements now completed, may be estimated as follows : 



Duke of Rivoli's collection, .... 12,500 specimens 



M. Bourcier's collection, 1,000 " 



Mr. Edward Wilson's collections . . . 4,000 " 



Mr. Gambel's and Mr. Cassin's collections . . 1,000 " 



Mr. Gould's collection, 2,000 " 



Former collections of the Academy . . . 2,500 " 



23,000 

 As premised at the commencement of this report, this magnificent result 

 is the work of an individual member of this Society, himself a naturalist of 

 excellent and varied acquirements, who in the formation of this and other 



