REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1910. 29 
Mr. Edmund Heller, on his return from Africa in the spring, was 
assigned the difficult task of working up the entire mammal collection 
from the Smithsonian expedition, which will occupy his time for 
perhaps two years or more. While still in the field he forwarded 
several papers descriptive of new species, which were immediately 
published by the Institution and Museum. Dr. D. G. Elliot, of New 
York City, examined the collection of monkeys and lemurs for infor- 
mation to be used in connection with a monograph of the primates 
which he is preparing. Mr. W. H. Osgood, of the Field Museum of 
Natural History, who is writing a report on the African mammals in 
that museum, studied the older African collections here. 
Birds.—The principal accessions of birds, as of mammals, were 
from east Africa and Java. Next in importance was a collection 
from Polynesia, made by Dr. C. H. Townsend during one of the early 
Pacific cruises of the Bureau of Fisheries steamer Albatross, of which 
he was then the naturalist. It comprises 391 specimens and about 85 
species, many of which are new to the Museum or were previously 
represented only by old and faded specimens dating back to the 
United States Exploring Expedition of 1838-1842. The types of 
three species of swiftlets (Collocalia) are included, and there is a good 
specimen of the rare sandpiper, Aechmorhynchus cancellatus, which 
has been reported as extinct. Thirty-nine birds and one nest from 
East Borneo and the islands of the Java Sea, including a pheasant, 
Polyplectron schleiermacheri, new to the collection, were presented by 
Dr. W. L. Abbott. There were two contributions of birds from the 
island of Luzon, one of 64 specimens from Dr. H. C. Curl, United 
States Navy, the other of 33 skins and 2 eggs from Mr. D. B. Mackie, 
of the Bureau of Agriculture, Manila. Mr. Henry D. Baker, American 
Consul at Hobart, Tasmania, transmitted 24 Australian birds. 
Thirty-four Chinese birds, including a pheasant, Crossoptilon tibet- 
anum, were received in exchange from the Hon. J. E. Thayer, of Lancas- 
ter, Massachusetts. In appreciation of work done by the Museum in 
the identification of natural history material, the Peruvian Govern- 
ment, through Dr. R. E. Coker, donated 47 skins and a few alccholic 
specimens, besides 33 eggs, including a number of interesting water 
birds. One hundred and six African birds, chiefly from Mount 
Ruwenzori, needed for comparison, were purchased. 
Three hundred and eleven land and water birds from Virginia, 
mostly from Smith’s Island, were contributed by the collectors, 
Dr. E. A. Mearns, Mr. J. H. Riley, and Mr. E. J. Brown. A fine 
series of 1,319 eggs and five nests, including several rarities, which 
had constituted the collection of the late Clarence H. Morrell, was 
presented to the Museum by his sister, Mrs. Ethel Morrell Hooper, of 
Exeter, New Hampshire, and three eggs of the rare Bachman’s 
