REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1910. 31 



arrangement was made with Mr. A. C. Bent, of Taunton, Massachu 

 setts, who vohmteered to take up at liis own expense, the unfinished 

 work on the life histories of North American birds, so well begun by 

 Maj. Bendire and continued by Dr. Ralph. Mr. Bent examined the 

 unpublished manuscripts and notes on the subject preserved at the 

 Museum, and also made a trip to the Breton Island reservation. 



Birds to the number of 503 were lent for study, the principal loan 

 having been made to Mr. W. E. Clyde Todd, of the Carnegie Museum, 

 who is preparing a revision of the ground doves of the genus CTiamse,- 

 pelia. Ornithologists who visited the ]\Iuseum and the material which 

 they examined were as follows: The late J. F. Ferry, of the Field 

 Museum of Natural History, Costa Rican birds; Mr. L. A. Fuertes, 

 of Ithaca, New York, the collection of pheasants, with a view to 

 making colored drawings of some of them for an illustrated mono- 

 graph of the group; Mr. B. H. Bailey, of Coe College, North American 

 and Asiatic birds; Mr. B. H. Swales, of Grosse Isle, Michigan, speci- 

 mens, records, and books for information relative to the birds of 

 ^lichigan; Mr. Outram Bangs, of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, 

 Cliinese and other Asiatic birds, for the purpose of identifying Cliinese 

 specimens collected by the Thayer expedition; Mr. Thomas Barbour, 

 of the same museum, parrots from the West Indies and New Guinea; 

 ^Ir. William Brewster, also of the same museum, the collection of 

 bitterns; Mr. Edward Arnold, of Detroit, the collection of birds' 

 eggs; Mr. John J. Boyce, of Juneau, Alaskan birds and eggs, especi- 

 ally of the genus BrachyrampJius. 



Reptiles and hatracliians. — About 1,800 reptiles and batracliians 

 were received from the African expedition and about 600 from the 

 Bureau of Fisheries, a considerable part of the latter having been 

 collected in the Pliihppine Islands. Maj. J. M. T. Partello, United 

 States Army, presented 6 specimens, including a remarkable unde- 

 scribed hzard, from the Pliilippines, and Dr. W. L. Abbott, 13 speci- 

 mens, chiefly marine snakes, from Borneo. Mr. Arthur de C. Sowerby 

 transmitted 66 specimens from northern China. Dr. Ales Ilrdhcka 

 obtained 34 reptiles during his trip to Egypt, and Dr. V. Brazil sent 

 24 Brazilian snakes as a gift. The Museum of Comparative Zoology 

 furnished 16 cotypes of West Indian hzards, Anolis, in exchange, 

 while Mr. Thomas Barbour, of the same museum, donated 20 reptiles 

 and batrachians from various tropical locaUties, including an example 

 of the interesting Surinam toad, Pipa americana. Eighty-seven 

 specimens, mostly collected in Colorado by Mr. M. Cary, were received 

 by transfer from the United States Biological Survey. The Hon. 

 J. D. Mitchell, of Victoria, Texas, presented the type specimen of the 

 hzard Engystoma areolatum. 



An important work of the year was the beginning of a card cata- 

 logue of specimens, for which special help was employed. The 



