16 Report of the President. 



During the year 1902, 14 papers on mammals and birds have 

 been published in the Museum Bulletin, and a guide leaflet on 

 North American Ruminants has been issued. 



Besides the scientific use of the material of this depart- 

 ment by the Curator and by naturalists visiting the Museum, 

 much material has been loaned to specialists and institu- 

 tions in other cities, for which due credit is given in their 

 publications, and similar courtesies are received from them in 

 return for our loans. Specimens are made use of by artists 

 at the Museum, to whom facilities are offered. 



The Museum has had collectors in the West Indies, Costa 

 Rica, northern Colombia, and in the Repulse Bay region of 

 northeastern arctic America. Mr. Klages has continued his 

 work in Venezuela. Mr. Chapman, the Associate Curator, 

 has made trips, in the interest of the Museum, to the coast of 

 Virginia and to the Bahamas, which were highly successful in 

 securing material for special bird groups, etc. 



The only expedition sent out exclusively for work in this 

 department is the Andrew J. Stone Expedition, of which men- 

 tion has been made in earlier reports. In 1902, Mr. Stone 

 made a trip to the western end of the Alaska Peninsula to 

 obtain accessories for the Grant Caribou group, specimens for 

 which were collected in 1901. 



New groups of birds have been given to the Museum by 

 Mr. Cadwalader, as follows: "The Fish Hawk," "The Ptar- 

 migan," "The Black Rail." 



Dr. Bashford Dean, of Columbia University," has made it pos- 

 sible for the Department to come into possession of several 

 long-tailed fowl from Japan. These will make valuable addi- 

 tions to our collections illustrating the results of artificial 

 selection. 



Vertebrate Palaeontology. — Progress has been made in 

 rearranging the collections so as to make them more intelligible 

 to the public. New specimens of interest have been placed in 

 the centre of the hall, and attention is called to them by 

 explanatory labels, diagrams and models. 



