REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1910. 31 
arrangement was made with Mr. A. C. Bent, of Taunton, Massachu 
setts, who volunteered to take up at his own expense, the unfinished 
work on the life histories of North American birds, so well begun by 
Maj. Bendire and continued by Dr. Ralph. Mr. Bent examined the 
unpublished manuscripts and notes on the subject preserved at the 
Museum, and also made a trip to the Breton Island reservation. 
Birds to the number of 503 were lent for study, the principal loan 
having been made to Mr. W. E. Clyde Todd, of the Carnegie Museum, 
who is preparing a revision of the ground doves of the genus Chamex- 
pelia. Ornithologists who visited the Museum and the material which 
they examined were as follows: The late J. F. Ferry, of the Field 
Museum of Natural History, Costa Rican birds; Mr. L. A. Fuertes, 
of Ithaca, New York, the collection of pheasants, with a view to 
making colored drawings of some of them for an illustrated mono- 
graph of the group; Mr. B. H. Bailey, of Coe College, North American 
and Asiatic birds; Mr. B. H. Swales, of Grosse Isle, Michigan, speci- 
mens, records, and books for information relative to the birds of 
Michigan; Mr. Outram Bangs, of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, 
Chinese and other Asiatic birds, for the purpose of identifying Chinese 
specimens collected by the Thayer expedition; Mr. Thomas Barbour, 
of the same museum, parrots from the West Indies and New Guinea; 
Mr. William Brewster, also of the same museum, the collection of 
bitterns; Mr. Edward Arnold, of Detroit, the collection of birds’ 
eggs; Mr. John J. Boyce, of Juneau, Alaskan birds and eggs, especi- 
ally of the genus Brachyramphus. 
Reptiles and batrachians.—About 1,800 reptiles and batrachians 
were received from the African expedition and about 600 from the 
Bureau of Fisheries, a considerable part of the latter having been 
collected in the Philippine Islands. Maj. J. M. T. Partello, United 
States Army, presented 6 specimens, including a remarkable unde- 
scribed lizard, from the Philippines, and Dr. W. L. Abbott, 13 speci- 
mens, chiefly marine snakes, from Borneo. Mr. Arthur de C. Sowerby 
transmitted 66 specimens from northern China. Dr. Ale’ Hrdliéka 
obtained 34 reptiles during his trip to Egypt, and Dr. V. Brazil sent 
24 Brazilian snakes as a gift. The Museum of Comparative Zoology 
furnished 16 cotypes of West Indian lizards, Anolis, in exchange, 
while Mr. Thomas Barbour, of the same museum, donated 20 reptiles 
and batrachians from various tropical localities, including an example 
of the interesting Surinam toad, Pipa americana. Hithty-seven 
specimens, mostly collected in Colorado by Mr. M. Cary, were received 
by transfer from the United States Biological Survey. The Hon. 
J. D. Mitchell, of Victoria, Texas, presented the type specimen of the 
lizard Engystoma areolatum. 
An important work of the year was the beginning of a card cata- 
logue of specimens, for which special help was employed. The 
