118 President's Address. 



though most of Horsfield's types, through defective prepara- 

 tion, had fallen victims to moths. Seven hundred specimens 

 were handed over in 1879. 



Up to the present time very few specimens from East 

 Africa had reached the Museum, hut in this year the Museum 

 acquired 52 birds from Dr. Hildebrandt's expedition to Teita 

 (cf. Cabanis, J. f. O., 1878, pp. 213-246). Mr. Frank Oates 

 had undertaken an expedition to Matabele-land and the 

 Victoria Falls, and had unfortunately succumbed to fever on 

 the return journey. His collection of 360 birds was presented 

 to the Museum by his brothers, W. E. and C. G. Oates. 



Sixty-nine birds from British New Guinea collected by Mr. 

 Kendal Broadbent were purchased. It was understood that 

 this collection had been sent direct to England, but the new 

 species which I described were already known to Dr. E. P. 

 Ramsay, the ever-vigilant Director of the Museum at Sydney, 

 whose descriptions ante-dated mine, so that my names became 

 in consequence synomyms. 



The year 1879 is one which must always be famous in 

 the history of the British Museum, since in this year we 

 received the first instalment of the great Salvin-Godman 

 collection. Included in this series were all the specimens 

 from the Palœarctic region, the results of Dr. Godman's 

 travels in the Azores and the Canary Islands, Norway, etc., 

 the Tunisian collection of Mr. Osbert Salvili, and many 

 others. Especially interesting were the specimens obtained 

 in their young days by these two great naturalists. 



In 1879 the Museum also received the first collections made 

 by Dr. Coppinger during the cruise of the "Alert," and 65 

 birds were sent by him from the Straits of Magellan. 



In 1880 the transfer of the India Museum was completed, 

 and the British Museum received 4731 birds, with 112 types 

 of species. 



Ninety-one birds and skeletons were received from the Straits 

 of Magellan, obtained by Dr. Coppinger on the "Alert." 



The collections of birds made during the voyage of the 

 "Challenger " were also presented by the Admiralty. They 

 consisted of 1021 birds and eggs, including 30 species new to 

 the Museum, and 12 types of new species. 



