Letters, Announcements, ^c. 579 



which accompanies the collection, there are not a few in- 

 stances where it was found necessary to represent an American 

 species by foreign specimens, the alternative being to leave 

 them out altogether, and it was the principal aim to exhibit 

 as complete a collection of our water-birds as possible. In 

 some instances we possess native specimens ; but they are 

 either unique in the collection, and therefore not to be taken 

 out, or else not sufficiently perfect for exhibition. In the 

 case of Puffinus kahli^ which has long been considered an 

 American species (though, I now believe, incorrectly — our 

 bird being the larger, but otherwise similar, P. borealis, Cory), 

 the National Museum did not possess a specimen from the 

 western side of the Atlantic, and consequently the one above 

 mentioned had to be taken. It is true that a specimen of 

 P. borealis, as a distinctively American species, would have 

 answered the purpose better ; but of the latter we have only 

 one example, and unique specimens were ineligible. 



In this conuexion some further remarks respecting the 

 National-Museum collection may not be without interest to 

 the readers of ' The Ibis.^ 



The collection was got together on very short notice, it 

 having been decided only at the last moment to make such 

 an exhibit ; otherwise several species not represented would 

 have been obtained for the purpose by exchange or purchase. 

 It should also have been stated in the catalogue that the 

 mounted groups were put up by Mr. Henry Marshall, the 

 taxidermist of the bird department of the U.S. National 

 Museum, and Mr. Frederick S. Webster, of Professor Ward^s 

 establishment, in Rochester, N. Y., — groups A, B, I, J, K, 

 and L being the work of Mr. Marshall, and groups C to H 

 that of Mr. Webster. The bills and feet of all the mounted 

 specimens, however, were painted by me, from field-notes or 

 colour-sketches made from the living or freshly killed birds, 

 in many cases by myself, and in all cases by careful and respon- 

 sible collectors. Thus, the brilliant colours of the pouch and 

 other naked parts of the White Pelican (P. erythrorhynchus)diVe 

 exactly those of specimens killed by me during the breeding- 

 season at Pyramid Lake, Nevada (see Orn. 40th Parallel Ex]). 



