134 REPORT ON NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



The reserve Humming-Urd collection, in a galvanized -iron chest, 30J inches long, 21 

 inches wide, and 20i inches high. 



The reserve collection of larger birds (not classified geographically) in twelve large " Sal- 

 vin" cabinets, each 8 feet long, 4 feet wide, and4 feet high, with closed, interchangeable 

 drawers; and in seventeen large chests measuring 46| inches long, 29^ inches wide, 

 and 21| inches high. 



Tlie duplicate collection in various drawers, chests, and boxes, or wherever room can 

 bo found. 



Desiderata. — It having been the policy of the Museum to make a specialty of Ameri- 

 can ornithology, the chief desiderata are in consequence principally among foreign 

 birds. The collections of the Museum embrace, however, tolerably good collections 

 from Europe, New South Wales, New Caledonia, Polynesia, and Kerguelen Island. 

 But from Africa, Asia (except Japan and parts of Eastern China), New Guinea, the 

 East India Islands, Philippines, Tasmania, Madagascar, and the various islands of 

 the Indian, South Atlantic, and Antarctic Oceans, the Museum possesses little or noth- 

 ing; while the birds of New Zealand, Western and Northern Australia, the Sandvdch 

 Islands, and Japan, are are very incompletely represented. The most desirable Old 

 World birds are of course those of the eastern portion of the Palaerctic region (Siberia, 

 Kamtschatka, Japan, etc.), the close zoological relationship between that region and 

 North America requiring a careful and complete comparison of specimens from the 

 two regions, not only in the case of species common to the two (circumpolar species), 

 but also of representative species and genera. 



There are also still many important desiderata among Neotropical birds, which it is 

 highly desirable should be secured as soon as practicable. A full list of these desi- 

 derata has been published in the "Proceedings" of the National Museum (vol. 4, pp. 

 165-203). The total number of Neotropical species of birds known to date, is about 

 3,800, exclusive of North American species found within Neotropical limits. Of this 

 number the National Museum possesses no less than 2,225 species, among them being 

 not a few which are unrepresented in other museums. The national collection is es- 

 pecially rich in West Indian birds, containing as it does nearly all the known species 

 of that interesting portion of the world, and is by far the most complete extant. 



The aggregate number of specimens of Neotropical birds in the collection is not 

 known; but the reserve skin series of Passeres, Trochilidae, and Pici (exclusive of 

 the genera Campcphilus and Hylotomus) alone contains nearly 9,000 specimens. 



In volume 4 of the "Proceedings" of the National Museum (IHSl, pp. 165-203), there 

 was published a "List of species of Middle and South American birds, not contained 

 in the United States National Museum," the object of the list being to acquaint mu- 

 seums and individuals with the desiderata of the collection. CfTpies of this list were 

 judiciously distributed, the direct result being the addition of nearly 100 species to the 

 collection, and the promise of several hundred more. 



Among North American birds there still remain a few important desiderata. Prin- 

 cipal among these are, of course, species of which the Museum possesses no specimens 

 whatever, as Cuvier's Kinglet {Regidus curieri), Lawrence's Warbler {Helminthophaga 

 lawrencei), the White-throated Warbler (H. leucohronchialis), the Cincinnati Warbler 

 {R. cincinnatiensis), the Carbonated Warbler (Perissoglossa? carbonata), the Blue 

 Mountain Warbler (Dendrcecaf montana), Small-headed Flycatcher (Myiodioctes? mi- 

 nutus), Grinnell's Water Thrush {Siurus nwvins notabilis), Large-billed Shrike (Lanins 

 hidovicianus robustus), Brewster's Linnet {^giothits brewsteri), Thick-billed Parrot 

 {Iihynchopsitta pachyrhyncha), Arctic Horned Owl {Bubo virginianus arcticus), Krider's 

 Hawk (Buteo borealis krideri), Pallas's Cormorant {Phalacrocorax pcrspicillatus). Siber- 

 ian Gull (Xarifs affinis), Hornby's Petrel (Oceanodroma /lornfcT/i), Large-billed Puffin 

 {Fratercula arciica glacialis), Short-winged Guillemot {Brachyrhamphus brachypterm), 

 and Sooty Guillemot {Uria carbo). The first, fifth, sixth, and seventh of the above 

 named species, it may be remarked, do not exist, so far as known, in any collection. 

 The Museum is also particularly desirous of obtaining good specimens of the Califor- 



