SECRETARY'S REPORT 19 



Navy. A series of military uniforms of the period of World War II 

 were received as a transfer from the Department of the Army. The 

 Bureau of Engraving and Printing deposited two specimen sets of 

 current United States paper money and Federal Reserve notes in 

 denominations from $1 to $10,000. 



A portfolio of 107 de-luxe proofs and stamps of the Principality of 

 Monaco, presented by Prince Rainier III to the Economic Cooperation 

 Administration, were received as a transfer, and the same agency also 

 forwarded a collection of Italian stamps issued in commemoration of 

 the European Recovery Program, a gift of the Government of Italy. 

 Recently issued foreign stamps totaling 2,964 in number were trans- 

 ferred by the Universal Postal Union. 



EXPLORATION AND FIELD WORK 



During the first half of the fiscal year, Dr. Waldo R. Wed el, at that 

 time associate curator of archeology, was detailed to the River Basin 

 Surveys, Bureau of American Ethnology, to supervise field and 

 laboratory operations in the Missouri Valley. 



Under the W, L. Abbott fund, M. A. Carriker, Jr., during the 

 present season continued mvestigations of the bird life of northern 

 Colombia, making collections in the lower Atrato Basin. He entered 

 the area from Medellln, proceeding by air to Turbo, then moving by 

 boat to stations on each side of the Gulf of Uraba. His investigations 

 continued along the lower Atrato, in part near the Panamanian 

 frontier, extending finally into more elevated regions above Frontino. 

 Examples of more than 500 species of birds were obtained in this 

 interesting region where there is union between the forms of life found 

 in eastern Panama and those of northwestern South America. 



Dr. Alexander Wetmore, with Watson M. Perrygo as assistant, 

 was again in the field in eastern Panama from the middle of February 

 to the beginning of April, their work being concerned with the collec- 

 tion and distribution of birds. Through the friendly assistance of 

 Brig. Gen. R. Beam, commanding oflBcer, Albrook Air Base, and of 

 Lt. Col. M. E. Potter, dnector of personnel services, in providing 

 transportation by water and other facilities, a base was established 

 in Chimdn on the Pacific coast about 90 miles east of Panama City. 

 The party worked first on the lower portion of the Rio Chimdn and 

 then moved in cayucos to the head of tidewater on the Rio Maj6. 

 From here the naturalists proceeded on foot with porters to the lower 

 elevations of Cerro Chucanti in the Serranfa de Maje. The region 

 covered was in an extensive area of virgin forest without human 

 inliabitants, beyond the limit of navigation by canoe. An excellent 

 collection of birds was obtained in a region that so far as known has 

 not been visited previously by naturalists. 



