AN ACCOUNT OF THE U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM. 309 



other American naturalists. The collections from the Mexican bound- 

 ary recently made by Dr. E. A. Meariis, U. S. A., are large and of high 

 scientific value.' 



A series of casts of porpoises and other cetaceans, including a young 

 humpback whale, forms a unique feature of the department. 



The representation of foreign mammals, though deficient in many 

 directions, includes a considerable number of type specimens and some 

 important local collections, chief among which are those from German 

 East Africa and from Kashmir and Eastern Turkestan, made and pre- 

 sented by Dr. William L. Abbott. 



The collection of skulls of North American mammals is probably 

 unrivaled elsewhere in extent, and the department also contains a 

 large alcoholic series. 



Of the Department of Birds the curator, Mr. Kobert Eidgway, 

 writes : 



Among the most important collections and single objects contained in the Depart- 

 ment of Birds are the following: 



1. The collections made by the Wilkes Exploring Expedition, the various Pacific 

 Railroad surveys, the Mexican Boundary Survey, the Geological Exploration of the 

 Fortieth Parallel, the Geological Survey of the Territories, Geographical Surveys 

 West of the One HundriHlth Meridian, the United States Astronomical Exjjedition 

 (Gilliss), and various other Government expeditions. - 



2. The collection made by Col. A. J. Grayson in Western Mexico, including the 

 Tres Marias and Revilla-Gigedo islands; collections made by Prof. F. Sumichrast 

 on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, and by Prof. V. Sartorius in the State of Vera Cruz^ 

 Mexico; collections made by F. A. Ober in the various islands of the Lesser Antilles. 



3. The collections made by the United States Fish Commission during a cruise of 

 the steamer Albatross around Cape Horn and in the Bahamas. 



4. Specimens from Audubon's collection, among them a considerable number of 

 types of his new species — that is, specimens from which the descriptions and colored 

 plates in his great work were taken. These formed part of Professor Baird's private 

 collection, and were given by Mr. Audubon to Professor Baird. 



r). The private collection of Professor Baird, numbering nearly four thousand 

 specimens, which formed the nucleus or beginning of the present national collection. 



6. Other private collections donated to the National Museum. 



7. The collections made by Dr. William L. Abbott in Eastern Africa, Madagas- 

 car, etc., generously presented to the National Museum and embracing a very large 

 number of species entirely new to the Museum collection, many of them being new 

 to science. These collections of Dr. Abbott, moreover, represent practically all that 

 the Museum possesses from the countries named. 



8. The collection of several thousand 8])ecimen8 from various parts of the world, 

 presented by Mr. A. Boucard, of S])ring Vale, Isle of Wight, England. 



9. Extinct Birds: Great Auk (one specimen), Labrador Duck (several), Guade- 

 1 111)0 Caracara (good series, old and young), and Philip Island Parrot, the latter 

 purchased for the Museum by Dr. William L. Ralph, of Utica, N. Y. 



' The very extensive series of North American mammals made by the United States 

 Department of Agriculture under Dr. C. Hart Merriam, the finest ever assembled, is 

 deposited in the Museum building and catalogued in its registers. 



^The valuable collections of birds made by the United States Department of Agri- 

 culture under direction of Dr. C. Hart Merriam in the United States and Mexico are 

 deposited iu the Museum building, as in the case of the mammals. 



