President's Address. 107 



collected by Dr. Smith, and were mounted by Jules and Alexis 

 Verreaux, who were at that time in South Africa. They were 

 exhibited in London at the Egyptian Halt, as the i South 

 African Museum,' and the collection was afterwards sold in 

 1838. Sir Andrew was terribly disappointed at the want of 

 interest exhibited by the public in his South African collection, 

 which had been made under circumstances of difficulty and 

 danger, not to be credited in these days. 



In 1839 we find the attempts at a reconstitution of the 

 collection of British Birds, 114 specimens of young- birds being- 

 presented by Mr. J. Baker of Melbourne in Cambridgeshire, 

 who afterwards became a taxidermist in London, and mounted 

 many of the birds in the Museum. 



In 1840, and again in 1843, Sir George Grey presented 

 specimens from South and West Australia, which he obtained 

 through Gould and his collectors. In 1841, after Gould had 

 come back from Australia, 332 birds were purchased from him. 

 In 1842 an important collection of 120 birds from Port 

 Essington was presented by Captain Chambers, and another 

 from the Philippine Islands, purchased of Hugh Cuming, 

 contained several new species. A set of birds was purchased 

 from Dr. Biippell, being duplicates from his Abyssinian 

 collection. 



In this year was received the first instalment of the 

 specimens collected during the great Antarctic Expedition. 



The year 1843 must for ever be a notable one in the history 

 of the British Museum, for at this time began the wonderful 

 donations of Mr. Bryan H. Hodgson from Nepal. One 

 thousand three hundred and two birds were presented by him 

 in 1843. 



In 1844, 222 birds from the Falkland Islands were sent by 

 the Antarctic Expedition, and 107 birds from the voyage of 

 of H.M.S. « Fly," collected by Dr. J. Beete Jukes. Hodgson 

 gave a second collection in 1845, 998 birds being from Nepal 

 and 301 from Behar, while Jerdon sent 57 specimens from 

 Madras, including the types of species described by him in 

 Indian journals. 



; Thirty TÜve birds from Port Essington were presented by Dr. 

 Sibbald, and 54 birds from Shoa, duplicates from Sir W. 



