Letters, Announcements, &;c. 539 



Report on the British Museum for 1885. — The Parliamentary- 

 Report of the British Museum for 1885 contains the following 

 passages on ornithological subjects : — 



''The 'Hume'' Collection of birds of the British Asian 

 Empire consists of 63,000 bird-skins, 18,500 eggs, and 500 

 nests, besides 371 skins of Mammalia. 



" This collection has been presented by Allan O. Hume, 

 Esq., C.B., and is^ without comparison^ the most extensive, 

 complete, and important that has ever been formed of the 

 birds of the Indian region. The aim of the donor was to 

 obtain specimens from, and to acquire a perfect knowledge 

 of, the avifaima of every part of British Asia. For this 

 purpose he organized a system under which numerous local 

 observers and collectors worked for and with him. He fitted 

 out expeditions, with a staff of collectors and taxidermists, 

 into Scinde, Coorg, Manipur, the Malayan Peninsula, Te- 

 nnasserim, and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands ; he also 

 acquired, either by purchase or presentation, collections 

 formed by other well-known Indian ornithologists, as the 

 Mandelli collection from Sikim and Tiber, Brook's North- 

 western and Central Indian birds, Adams's Lambhur birds, 

 Bingham's collections from Delhi and Tenasscrim, and 

 Scully's collection from Turkestan. 



"The value of this collection, therefore, should not be 

 measured merely by the number of specimens which it 

 contains, but by the judgment which determined their selec- 

 tion, the history attached to many of them, and the com- 

 pleteness of the several series. Assuming that the collection 

 contains 2000 species, each would be represented on an 

 average by about 30 specimens, and that number is, in the 

 majority of cases, necessary to illustrate the geographical 

 distribution or variation of the species according to age, 

 season, or locality. 



" A series of 5331 specimens of American birds, presented 

 by P. D. Godraan, Esq., F.R.S., and O. Salvin, Esq., F.R.S. 

 — This is the first instalment of a donation which, when 

 completed, will, with regard to its scientific value, be perhaps 

 not surpassed even by the donation reported above. The 



