°'i9i9 J Notes and News. 321 



the most complete of any collection in America. In the oological collec- 

 tion there are large, carefully selected series of species now difficult or 

 impossible to obtain. 



The Messrs. Mailliard are members of the Cooper Ornithological Club 

 and are both actively interested in the California Academy, John W. 

 Mailliard being a trustee and Joseph Mailliard honorary curator of birds 

 in the Academy's Museum. 



The Academy is certainly to be congratulated upon securing this valu- 

 able collection, which, added to those already in its possession puts this 

 institution in the front rank in the field of ornithology and oology in western 

 America. 



Now that the war is over and travelling becomes possible again a number 

 of collectors are in the field. Roy Chapman Andrews of the Ameri- 

 can Museum of Natural History has returned to China to continue his 

 work there, and Mr. Klages, the well-known bird collector, is making a 

 trip through French Guiana to the Amazon. On February 26, Capt. 

 William Beebe left New York with a party, which will establish themselves 

 at the Tropical Research Station of the New York Zoological Society in 

 British Guiana, where work of much importance will be carried on. 



In view of the constantly increasing interest in ornithology and the 

 increasing difficulty in obtaining specimens, it seems highly desirable that 

 more information should be accessible regarding the extent and character 

 of the larger collections of the United States and Canada. The student 

 would thus have a better idea as to what material is available while 

 museums and individual collectors by making known their desiderata 

 would perhaps be enabled to fill their gaps. 



One important collection has just been completely checked up and at our 

 request the owner, Mr. J. H. Fleming of Toronto, has kindly given us his 

 figures. This is one of the largest private collections and covers the birds 

 of the entire world — a most commendable feature. We learn that it 

 comprises about 25,000 specimens representing 5,377 species and 1,925 

 genera, as recognized in Sharpe's 'Hand List.' When we note that there 

 are, according to this authority, some 17,000 species of birds and 2,647 

 genera, we realize that Mr. Fleming has about one third of the known 

 species and three fourths of the genera represented, the latter being evi- 

 dence of the painstaking care that he has exercised in bringing together 

 this notable series of specimens. 



In the Philadelphia Zoological Garden at the present time is a Naked- 

 throated Bell-bird in full "song" if its peculiar calls may be so termed. 

 These vocal efforts resemble exactly the strokes of a hammer on an anvil, 

 the peculiar resonance of the ringing metal being perfectly reproduced. 



There is also a specimen of the curious Kagu (Rhinochelus jubatus) of 



