98 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1914. 
retired, also associate in zoology, studied the raccoons of the Mexican 
boundary survey, of which he was the chief zoologist; and Mr. Ed- 
mund Heller continued his work on the mammals of the Smithsonian 
African Expedition, of which he was one of the naturalists. 
The members of the Biological Survey of the Department of Agri- 
culture had at all times full access to the collections, which were also 
consulted by Dr. J. A. Allen, Dr. W. K. Gregory, and Mr. A. C. 
Andrews, of the American Museum of Natural History; Mr. W. H. 
Osgood, of the Field Museum of Natural History; Dr. O. P. Hay, 
of the Carnegie Institution of Washington; Dr. J. C. Merriam, of 
the University of California; Dr. D. G. Elliot, of New York; Dr. 
R. W. Shufeldt, of Washington; and Mr. Childs Frick, of Bryn 
Mawr, Pa. Specimens were lent for study to Dr. G. M. Allen, of the 
Museum of Comparative Zoélogy; Dr. J. A. Allen; Mr. H. B. Bailey, 
of Newport News, Va.; Prof. T. D. A. Cockerell, of the University of 
Colorado; Mr. Childs Frick; Prof. George S. Huntington, of the 
College of Physicians and Surgeons of New York; Dr. J. C. Mer- 
riam; and Mr. Witmer Stone, of the Academy of Natural Sciences of 
Philadelphia. 
Birds —The birds received from Mr. Raven in east Borneo com- 
prised 701 skins, besides a few skeletons, eggs, and nests. A generous 
gift from Dr. Edgar A. Mearns, United States Army, retired, con- 
sisted of his private collection of 1,577 skins, 780 eggs, and 48 skele- 
tons. In addition to a large number of foreign species, chiefly from 
England and Denmark, this donation contains a selected series from 
Dr. Mearns’ early collecting, including many specimens from the 
Fort Verde region, Ariz., and examples of several exceedingly rare 
forms, as, for instance, two passenger pigeons, now extinct in the 
wild state, and. two Carolina parrakeets and one ivory-billed wood- 
pecker, both of which are nearing extinction. Another welcome ac- 
cession, presented by Mr. Otto Holstein, was composed of 25 bird 
skins from Ecuador, among them being two skins of the spine-tail 
humming bird, Leptasthenura andicola, and a species of Calospiza, 
new to the Museum. To facilitate the researches of Dr. Mearns on 
the east African birds from the two expeditions of which he was a 
member, 15 skins of birds from Africa, including a species of 
Myioceyx, a genus not hitherto represented in the collection, were 
purchased. 
The rearrangement of the reserve series of bird skins was con- 
tinued more actively than during the previous year owing to in- 
creased facilities, with the result of advancing the revision to the 
extent of 20 quarter-unit and 53 half-unit cases. This brings the 
new installation, commencing with the passeres, down nearly to the 
end of the birds of prey. Case and drawer labels were prepared for 
these 73 cases and temporary labels for the remainder of the series, 
