576 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [DeC, 



At the annual meeting of the Section, held December 5, the following 

 were elected as officers for the ensuing year : 



Director, ..... Benjamin H. Smith. 



Vice-Director, .... Joseph Crawford. 



Recorder, ..... Charles S. Williamson. 

 Treasurei' and Conservator, . . Stew ardson Brown. 



Respectfully submitted, 



Stewardson Brown, 



Conservator. 



The Ornithological Section. 



During the past year the remainder of the mounted collection of 

 birds, comprising the ostriches and their allies and the song birds, have 

 been arranged on the new Ornithological floor in cases provided for 

 them, and the work of relabelling the Picariae, Passeres, etc., has been 

 begun. 



The greater part of the Conservator's time, apart from general 

 museum work, has been devoted to a thorough revision of the study 

 series of bird skins. Before installing the extensive Tristram collection 

 it was found necessary to reidentify the old material and bring the 

 nomenclature up to date. At the same time all species represented 

 in the collection have been checked up in Sharpe's Hand List of Birds, 

 so that it is possible to ascertain at a glance the Academy's desiderata. 

 This work has been completed from the Parrots to the Song Birds, 

 this portion of the collection occupying eighty of the standard metal 

 cases. 



Mr. J. A. G. Rehn has spent about six months' time in relabelling 

 the Tristram collection, amplifying the tags from the manuscript 

 catalogue, and has completed about one half of this material. He 

 has also relaxed many of the old unmounted specimens and greatly 

 improved their appearance. 



Numerous accessions have been received during the year, among 

 which may be mentioned a collection of Brazilian birds from Mrs. 

 Thomas Gummey, a raven's nest and other specimens for the Delaware 

 Valley Club collection. 



A special mahogany and plate glass case was finished early in the 

 year for the display of the Great Auk and the Labrador Ducks, and 

 twelve additional metal cases have been purchased for the study- 

 collection. 



