338 The Smithsonian Institution 



" (4) Specimens from Audubon's collection, among them a 

 considerable number of types of his new species, that is, spe- 

 cimens from which the descriptions and colored plates in his 

 great work were taken. These formed part of Professor 

 Baird's private collection, to whom they were given by Mr. 

 Audubon. 



" (5) The private collection of Professor Baird, numbering 

 nearly 4000 specimens, which formed the nucleus, or begin- 

 ning, of the present national collection. 



" (6) Other private collections donated to the National 

 Museum. 



" (7) The collections made by Doctor William L. Abbott in 

 Eastern Africa, Madagascar, etc., generously presented to 

 the National Museum and embracing a very large number of 

 species entirely new to the Museum collection, many of them 

 being new to science. These collections of Doctor Abbott, 

 moreover, represent practically all that the Museum possesses 

 from the countries named. 



"(8) The collection of several thousand specimens from 

 various parts of the world, presented by Mr. A. Boucard, of 

 Spring Vale, Isle of Wight, England. 



" (9) Extinct Birds : Great Auk (one specimen), Labrador 

 Duck (several), Guadelupe Caracara (good series, old and 

 young), and Philip Island Parrot, the latter purchased for the 

 Museum by Doctor William L. Ralph, of Utica, New York. 



"(10) Very rare species, or those nearly extinct, as the 

 Carolina Paroquet, Ivory-billed Woodpecker, Black-capped 

 and Jamaican Petrels, Hawaiian Coot, Cuban Macaw, Peale's 

 Sandpiper (several specimens, the only ones known to exist 

 in collections), and numerous other species. 



"(n) Unique types, such as Fisher's Petrel, Townsend's 

 Bunting, Cooper's Sandpiper, Cooper's Hen-Hawk, Riker's 

 Woodhewer. 



"The National Museum collection of North American birds 

 is by far the most complete in existence, and is the basis of 

 every important work on North American birds since Audu- 

 bon's time. That of the birds of the West Indies is also the 

 most important, although exceeded greatly in number by that 



