614 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



Seventh. Collecting and preserving material. It is very desirable 

 to have at a central point and readily accessible in this State, as for 

 example at Harrisburg, a complete collection of beneficia' and in- 

 jurious insects, birds, mammals and other animals. AVe have lost 

 no time or effort in trying to form such a collection during the short 

 time at our command, when primary duties were not more urgent. 

 We have now in preparation a collection, showing several tj'pes of 

 our more common birds with their food, habits and enemies as in- 

 dicated. This is prepared for the St. Louis Exhibition, and our 

 Maj' quarterly bulletin will be devoted to the discussion of this sub- 

 ject. The collection will be returned to a museum room in the Capi- 

 tol at Harrisburg, and will remain there as nucleus for a complete 

 collection, showing the natural history resources of Pennsylvania. 

 It will, of course, be open at all times to our citizens, and members 

 of this Board are invited to co-operate with us in making this, as 

 it should be, a creditable and interesting feature of natural history 

 in this State. 



Eight. Writing articles upon "birds." Your Ornithologist has 

 written several articles for the press, which have been published 

 more or less widely, and has, also, prepared four quarterly bulletins 

 upon this subject, and has devoted portions of ten monthly bulletins 

 to the discussion of ornithological topics. It has been our aim (1) 

 to make these accurate and reliable, based upon our personal scien- 

 tific researches rather than upon the casual observation of untrained 

 persons. (2) We have tried to make them clear and practical, so that 

 any person could read and understand their contents. (3) We have 

 tried to make them systematic discussions of the orders, family and 

 species of American birds in definite series and scientific plan of 

 treating. In this we hope and believe that we have succeeded, but 

 the acceptability and practicability of such publications is left to 

 the intelligent persons whom we have endeavored to serve. If this 

 has not been done, we regret it very much; but if it has not been in 

 vain, we have no regret whatever for it has been our effort to serve 

 our citizens in this State from whom we hope to hear more abun- 

 dantly in the future than in the past. 



MK. FENSTEMAKER: We have thirteen schools in our township 

 and I would put one set of these bulletins in every schoolhouse and 

 I believe it would do a great good. 



I)K. CONAKl): A few years ago 1 scul i'ui- a bulK'(iii on the 

 "Economic Status Value of the Crow," and the information 1 re- 

 ceived from it was an eye-opener to me. I'ntil I j^ot that bulletin 

 I always regarded the crow as a very (pieslionable institution, but 

 since that I have had a great deal more respect for (hat bii'd. II 

 shows what ho eats and they ^^•erc able to do this by opening up his 



