23 
REPORT ON THE BIRDS AND MAMMALS. 
By WIiti1amM BREWSTER. 
THE only important acquisition in the Ornithological De- 
partment during the past four months is a collection of skins 
of Patagonian birds, received in exchange from the Jardin des 
Plantes. 
Early in July a thorough examination was made of the collec- 
tion of skins of the larger Mammals. Their condition proved 
decidedly unsatisfactory. Many had been originally so badly 
skinned or preserved that they were nearly worthless ; others 
were broken or defaced in various ways; while a large number 
had been materially injured, and not a few ruined, by the at- 
tacks of moths and museum pests. 
This state of affairs was evidently due, not to any neglect in 
the care of the specimens, but to the gradual accumulation of 
poor skins inevitable with all large collections, and to the diffi- 
culty, if not impossibility, of guarding so much bulky material 
from insects, especially as many of the cases in which it was 
stored were far from insect-proof. 
As the construction of a sufficient number of suitable cases 
would have involved a large expense, and as most of the skins 
belonged to common species, which can be easily replaced, and 
which, in most cases, are represented by perfect specimens in 
the mounted collections, it seemed best to dispose, by exchange 
or otherwise, of everything that could be safely regarded as 
either a duplicate or worthless. This has been done, and the 
collection thereby brought within such limits that the really 
valuable material which remains can be easily preserved from 
further injury. 
