G12 The United States National Museum. 



The curator of the division, Mr. Robert llidgway, com- 

 pleted tlie manuscript of Part 5 of the Museum Bulletin 50, 

 entitled "■ The Birds of North and Middle America/' and 

 by the close of the year the printing of this volume was 

 ■well advanced. He also made considerable progress in the 

 arrangement of the data for Part 6 of the same work. 

 Dr. E. A. Mearns continued the preparation of his report on 

 the birds collected by the Smithsonian African Expedition^ 

 and Mr. William Palmer devoted some time to working up 

 the birds obtained iu Java by Mr. Owen Bryant and himself. 

 Mr. A. C. Bent, of Taunton, Massachusetts^ who, at his own 

 expense, is proceeding with the work on the '' Life Histories 

 of North American Birds," begun by Major Bendire and 

 continued by Dr. Ralph, examined material at the Museum 

 and made one or more field trips during the year. 



The collections of the division were consulted by members 

 of the staff of the Biological Survey and by many ornitho- 

 logists from different parts of the country and from abroad. 

 Among the latter may be mentioned IMr. W. E. Clyde Todd, 

 of the Carnegie Museum; Mr. Witmer Stone, Curator of 

 the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia; Mr. Frank 

 M. Chapman and Mr. W. de W. Miller, of the American 

 Museum of Natural History ; Dr. Glover M. Allen and 

 Mr. William Brewster, of the Museum of Comparative 

 Zoology ; Mr. Charles B. Cory and Mr. W. H. Osgood, of 

 the Field Museum of Natural History ; Mr. B. H. Swales, 

 of Grosse He, Michigan ; Dr. L. C. Sanford, of New Haven, 

 Connecticut ; Mr. Abbott H. Thayer, of Monadnock, New 

 Hampshire ; Dr. R. W. Shufeldt, and Rear-Admiral R. E. 

 Peary, United States Navy, of Washington ; Hon. Dean C. 

 AVorcester, Secretary of the Interior of the Philippine 

 Islands ; Mr. Anastasio Alfaro, Director of the Museo 

 Nacional, San Jose, Costa Rica ; and Mr. J. H. Fleming, 

 of Toronto, Canada. 



