DEPARTMENT OF BIRDS 157 



tioiuilly tine collection, as regards preparation of the specimens vvliicli 

 bad been mounred erjtirely from fresh specimens, was of very great in- 

 terest and benefit to the Department, atlbrdiug, as it did, several sng- 

 gestiousof practical value, and much needed material for study, includ- 

 ing no less than live ^lor(^ or less remarkable new species. The collection 

 was in charge of Prof. Fernando Ferrari-Perez, C. E., who prepared a 

 catalogue of the collection for publication in the "Proceedings" of the 

 Museum, the Curator of the Department of Birds determining the si)e- 

 cies and describing those which were new, besides rendering every 

 needed assistance to Professor Ferrari-Perez. The new species will be 

 fully described in Professor Ferrari-Perez's catalogue, in the forthcoming 

 volume of the "Proceedings," but have already been briefly character- 

 ized and named, in order to secure priority, in "The Aulc" for July, 

 18SG. The new species are as follows: (1) Amphupiza fcrrari-perezi; 

 (2) Fipilo suhmaculatufi ; (3) P. complex us ; (4) Anas dlazl (named iu 

 honor of General Augustin Diaz, president of tlie Commission); (5) 

 PhUortyx personatiis. 



Special reference to the A. O. U. Code and Check-List will be found 

 in the Bibliography, under American Ornithologists' Union. 



The collection of mounted duplicates, consisting of more than 7, (KM) 

 specimens, aggregating about 000 species, was made u[) into six sets for 

 distribution, set i containing 307 specimens and 295 species. 



During the year the copy for species labels for the exhibition series 

 was carefully revised to correspond with the nomenclature a.nd uumera- 

 tion of the American Ornithologists' Union check-list, the number of 

 separate labels being about 975. Proof of these was also carefully re- 

 vised by both the curator and assistant curator. 



Several groups of birds Vv'hich had hitherto been iu a state of great 

 confusion were nuide the subject of special critical revision by the cura- 

 tor, with very satisfactory results, thanks to the excellent material in 

 the Museum collection. Among the more important groups thus cov- 

 ered may be nientioned the particularly diilerenl; Procellarian genera 

 ^strcldta and FuJJinns, and the genera Colinus, Larus, La<jopiis, and 

 Empidonax. The last luimed was revised at the special request of Dr. 

 P. L. Sclater, Secretary of the Zoological Society of London, who is en- 

 gaged in prc^paring the catalogue of Tyrannid;c in Ihe British Museum, 

 and who forwarded his own rich collection of Empidonaces to aid in the 

 investigation. 



The assistant curator has also contituied his revision of Japaiu'se 

 ornithology. When Cai»tain lilakiston donated his magnificent coUec- 

 tion of Japanese birds to the National Museum, it was M'ith the under- 

 standing that it be properly worked up, for which puri)ose lui also left 

 his nuinuscript notes, accumulated during twenty years collecting, 

 and a great deal of literature, with the assistant curator. Several pa. 

 person the Japanese Avifauna have already been submitted for pub- 

 lication by tlui latter and will be found in the subjoined list of papeis 



