iS Field Mrsrm or Natural Histoey — Reports, Vol. V. 



pve gTMiter n^ndily and a mora natural pose and it w*as placed upon a 

 new b«9e. A sJoill and jaws of the Miocene bone, Parahippus, were 

 prepared for exhibition and the mountinK of a skdeton of the Miocene 

 cund Oxydactylus was nearly completed. The large collection of 

 fooQ bones from the Los Anf^es asphalt beds, numbering nearly 

 3000 specimens, was taken to \Miiting, Indiana, where, through the 

 courtesy of the Standard Oil Company, complete facilities were pro- 

 vided for soaking the hones in naphtha and thus dissolving out the 

 tarry material. This treatment of the specimens was necessary to 

 avoid the slow exudation of the asphalt which experience had shown 

 would otherwise occur and cause injury to the interiors of the cases. 

 The generosity of the Standard Oil Company in this connection is 

 gratefiilly acknowlcd^. 



In the Department of Zoology the collection of mammals in alcohol 

 has been o\tThaulcd and fully identified. The collections of birds, 

 •wwwn^U and insects were disinfected. The sldns of the large manmials 

 stored in the basement of the Musetmi arc now reasonably acoesBble; 

 only little progress has been made in completing the tanning of such skins 

 as still remain in a raw state, the sldn dresser ha\nng been occupied 

 the greater part of the year on fresh material. Three large groups of 

 birds, provided by the ^♦-•'■>v Field Ornithology Fund, have been 

 finished and pl.ir. «1 r.n c\ ... n. They represent bird life in Tropical 

 America. (1) < : liornis cariptnsis. This group shows breed- 



ing birds in a cave in which they live, and illustrates a form oi bird life 

 of great interest. The material for the group was secured by the Mu- 

 seum South American Expedition on the Island of Trinidad in 1914. 

 (2) Group of Screamers and Scarlet Ibis. A striking and instructive 

 group, also obtained by the Museum Expedition near Lake Maracaibo, 

 Venesuria. This grmip contains specimens of both the curious Homed 

 Screamer and Crested Screamer, together with a number of richly col- 

 ored Scarlet Ibis, and forms one of the most attracti\*c groups. (3) 

 Group of American Flamingoes on their breeding ground on the Island 

 of Great Inagua, Bahama Islands. The group .<^ows 7 adult Flamin- 

 goes, with their peculiar cone-shaped nests, eggs, and two young birds 

 in the nest. The painted background shows a continuation of the 

 "rookery" which in the Inagua Colony numbered about 1,000 nests. 

 The painted backgrounds of these groups greatly r ' their educa- 



tiooal value, as the o bee rver is able to become Camiluu >Mih the natural 

 euvirucuuent of the spedes. Dup"'^ fVe year the taxidermists have 

 been engaged in preparing an c ;<jn group of Alaska Mooee, 



whuh is now neariy ready for installation. Considerable preliminary 

 work has also been done on two other mammal groups, a group of 



