30 EEPOKT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1910 



warbler were donated by Mr. George C. Embody, of Cornell University. 

 Eleven birds of paradise were purchased for the exhibition collection. 

 Twenty-nine skins and five skeletons of birds were received from 

 the National Zoological Park. They included a male north African 

 ostrich, presented to President Roosevelt by Emperor Menelik of 

 Abyssinia, two examples of the Jahiru myderia, one of the whooping 

 crane, Grus mnericana, one of Burmeister's cariama, Chunga hur- 

 meisteri, one of the Timneh parrot, Psittacus timneh, and a rhea, Bliea 

 darwini. By transfer from the United States Biological Survey, 110 

 birds' eggs and three nests, chiefly from Mexico, were obtained. 



The reserve collection of birds was moved to the new building in 

 August, 1909. The eggs had previously been transferred, but were 

 not permanently placed until in December of the same year. The 

 overcrowding of the skins in the old building had been so great that it 

 was found necessary to immediately order over 70 additional cases to 

 provide for a reasonable spreading of the collection, and soon there- 

 after half as many more to accommodate the current accessions, 

 including those from east Africa. Delays in securing all of the draw- 

 ers and fittings for the new cases, however, prevented the completion 

 of the arrangement of the specimens within the year. 



Much work of a routine nature, in addition to the above, was put 

 upon the collection. During the earlier period of the ISIuseum and 

 before the present fine distinctions between species and varieties 

 were recognized, much material now known to be of exceptional 

 value was unfortunately included in the duplicate series which were 

 widely distributed. A careful examination of the older records, w^ith 

 the object of determining as far as possible the location of desired 

 specimens, has been going on for a considerable time, and some 

 important types have already been recovered. There has been the 

 customary amount of labeling and cataloguing, and identifications 

 were printed on 5,733 labels, including the remaining parts of Dr. 

 Abbott's collections. The specimens from all accessions of the year, 

 including the African and Javan expeditions, were catalogued. A 

 temporary assistant was employed for five months to help in the 

 record w^ork and the arrangement of specimens, but some time is still 

 required to cover all of the arrearages and place the collections and 

 records of the division on a thoroughly satisfactory basis. 



The fifth volume of the manual of North American birds, by the 

 curator, Mr. Robert Ridgway, was completed except as to the family 

 of woodpeckers, and it is expected that the manuscript will be ready 

 for the printer by October, 1910. For examination in connection 

 with this work, 6,529 birds were borrowed from other institutions. 

 Dr. C. W. Richmond, assistant curator, added about 1,500 cards to 

 the catalogue of genera and species of birds. Mr. H. C. Oberholser 

 continued studies on the East Indian collections of Dr. Abbott. An 



