232 Royal Australasian Ornithologists' Union: [isf"ian 



but photographs of birds, eggs, and nests are urgently needed to 

 help completion. Members and friends are also invited to donate 

 sets of eggs to the collection with the view of making it of greater 

 scientific and educational value. 



The collection may be inspected by members at any time. 



A. Chas. Stone, Curator. 



Report on the Skin Collection at the R.A.O.U. Room. 



With the assistance of Dr. Brooke Nicholls and Mr. F. E. 

 Wilson, I have arranged roughly the collection of bird-skins in 

 the R.A.O.U. room, which were mostly unnamed, except those 

 kindly donated by Mr. H. L. White, Mr. F. E. Wilson, and others.* 



Of Australian skins there are 297 kinds (including 3 sub-species), 

 or a total of 965 skins, besides a number of New Guinea (about 

 45) and about 260 extra-Australian species, making a grand total 

 of 1,270 specimens. 



Regarding the history of the main collection, the Council pur- 

 chased it from Mr. A. Coles, Bourke-street, for £10 — almost a gift, 

 notwithstanding most of the specimens were without data. Mr. 

 Coles obtained the collection from the widow of the late Mr. 

 Joseph Andrews, a good field ornithologist and intimate friend 

 of the late Mr. Kendall Broadbent, of the Queensland Museum. 

 Unfortunately, owing to the melancholy circumstances surrounding 

 Mr. Andrews' death, the data of the collection were lost. 



The collection has now been named, or rather numbered, in 

 accordance M'ith the Union's official " Check-list," which, with 

 its ready reference to plates and literature, was found very helpful 

 for the undertaking. An interleaved copy of the " Check-list " 

 (as a catalogue) will be left in the room, with the Avistralian 

 species indicated, and showing sexes where possible. 



The collection is a nucleus of a good working one, and will 

 prove exceedingly useful to members for ready reference for the 

 commoner kinds. There are several duplicates of the more 

 southern forms, and if exchanges could be effected with, say, 

 the Western Australian and Queensland Museums, the collection 

 would become still more useful. But this is merely a sugges- 

 tion. 



The Council is indebted to Mr. D. Le Souef, our present hon. 

 secretary, for his generous and valuable gift of an insect-proof 

 cabinet for the collection ; but a cabinet with more roomy 

 drawers is still required for some of the larger skins, which are 

 yet in ordinary packing cases. 



A. J. Campbell, 

 Hon. Ctirator, Skin Collection, R.A.O.U. 



* This does not include mounted specimens or those under glass, which are 

 acknowledged in the hon. secretary's report. 



