REPORT OP NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1915. 39 



Edmund Heller, who had been engaged in a preliminary study of 

 the east African mammal material collected in recent years by the 

 Smithsonian and other expeditions, left for Peru toward the end of 

 the year with the joint expedition of Yale University and the Na- 

 tional Geographic Society. In view of the urgency of completing 

 the final report on the African specimens, the subject has been turned 

 over to Mr. Hollister, who is devoting to this important task all of 

 the time which can be spared from routine work. Dr. C. H. Merriam, 

 associate in zoology, is continuing his researches on the bears and 

 other North American mammals. 



The collections of the division have been constantly utilized by 

 members of the Biological Survey, and Dr. O. P. Hay, of the Car- 

 negie Institution of Washington, has also consulted them in con- 

 nection with his studies of Pleistocene mammals. Dr. M. W. Lyon, 

 jr., spent considerable time in the preparation of a paper on the mam- 

 mals obtained by Dr. W. L. Abbott on islands off the west coast of 

 Sumatra ; and Messrs. "W. H. Osgood and E. A. Preble, who visited 

 the Pribilof Islands in 1914 on behalf of the Department of Com- 

 merce, examined the seal material. Specimens were lent for study 

 to Dr. G. M. Allen, of the Museum of Comparative Zoology ; to Dr. 

 J. A. Allen, Dr. William K. Gregory and Dr. W. D. Matthew, of the 

 American Museum of Natural History; to Mr. G. F. Eaton, of the 

 Peabody Museum of Yale University ; to Mr. Childs Frick, of Bryn 

 Mawr, Pa. ; to Mr. W. H. Osgood, of the Field Museum of Natural 

 History; to Mr. W. P. Taylor, of the University of California, and 

 to the California Academy of Sciences. 



Birds. — The Bornean collection from Mr. Raven contained a large 

 number of interesting species especially among the timeliine birds, 

 notably a Rublgula paroticalis, and also in other groups, such as the 

 ibis, Inocotls papiUosus, of which both genus and species are new to 

 the Museum. The birds from Mr. Sowerby form very acceptable 

 additions to the somewhat scant series of Chinese forms, among the 

 species not previously in the collection being two owls, Glaucidium 

 orientdle and Strix uralensis niJcoIskii, a raven, Corvus corax us- 

 suriensis, a grouse, Tetrastes honasia septentrlonalis, and a recently 

 described jay, Garrulus diaphorus. Mr. Otto Holstein, of San An- 

 tonio, Tex., presented some very desirable material from Ecuador, 

 comprising 163 skins, among which are a number of species now for 

 the first time acquired, such as M ecocerculus poecilocercus, a fly- 

 catcher, and Cinclodes alMdiventris, an ovenbird, as well as a new 

 species of seed-eater, Sporophila incerta. Twenty-one Australian 

 birds were received in exchange from the Western Australian Mus- 

 eum and Art Gallery, at Perth; and a rare Amazon parrot, Amazona 

 hodini, was the gift of Mr. Edward S. Schmid, of Washington. 



