Report of the President 29 



MAMMALS AND BIRDS 



Department of Mammalogy and Ornithology. — Im- 

 portant additions have been made to the collections of both 

 mammals and birds. These include mammals from Nicaragua, 

 the Philippine Islands and Arctic America, and birds from 

 Japan, Formosa and Nicaragua. 



The most important collection received during the year 

 includes a large series of musk-oxen, a still larger series of the 

 Peary caribou, a number of walrus skulls and scalps, a series of 

 narwhal tusks, and a large number of lemmings and foetal speci- 

 mens of seals, walrus, narwhal, arctic fox and lemming in alco- 

 hol. All of the above was obtained by Commander Robert E. 

 Peary in northern Ellesmere Land and Greenland and turned 

 over to the Museum by the Peary Arctic Club. Other desir- 

 able additions were several antelope and specimens of big game 

 from British East Africa, the gift of Messrs. E. Hubert Litch- 

 field, Bayard Dominick, Jr., and Henry Sampson, Jr. 



Several mammals and birds in the flesh have been received 

 from the New York Zoological Society and the Central Park 

 Menagerie, and we wish to acknowledge these. 



The mammals acquired during the year number 625; the 

 birds, 1,616 specimens. 



The department has been fairly well represented in the 

 field. Mr. Roy C. Andrews of the Museum staff made a trip 

 early in the year to Tadousac, Quebec, to obtain specimens 

 of the smaller cetaceans, securing three skeletons and a series 

 of skulls of the white whale. Later he was sent to the Philip- 

 pine Islands to join the staff of the steamer "Albatross" 

 of the United States Fisheries Bureau, to make collections of 

 natural history material in the interest of the Museum. 



Mr, R. M. Anderson has continued his explorations in 

 Arctic America in connection with Mr. V. Stefansson, but as 

 yet no definite report of his work has been received. Mr. 

 Anderson is expected to come out in the summer of 19 10. 



Mr. M. A. Carriker, Jr., who has planned a long collect- 

 ing trip to South America, and is now at work in Venezuela, 

 has been commissioned to procure mammal materials for us. 



