8o Report of the President 



MAMMALS AND BIRDS* 

 J. A. Allen, Curator 



The work of this department was seriously interrupted dur- 

 ing a large part of the year (1917) by the entry into the service 

 of the United States of eight members of its staff, five of whom 

 entered the training camp at Plattsburg, New York, in August, 

 received commissions as lieutenants and were assigned to active 

 duty at field camps in December. Curator Chapman entered the 

 service of the American Red Cross in June, and was later made 

 Director of its Bureau of Publications in Washington. The 

 members of the staff who have entered the United States ser- 

 vice, with their assignments, are: Mr. H. E. Anthony, Assis- 

 tant in Mammalogy, 1st Lieutenant, Field Artillery; Mr. James 

 P. Chapin, Assistant in Ornithology, 1st Lieutenant, Infantry; 

 Mr. Leo E. Miller, Assistant in Ornithology, 1st Lieutenant, 

 Aviation; Mr. Carlos D. Empie, Mammalogy, 2d Lieutenant, 

 Infantry; Mr. Ludlow Griscom, Ornithology, 2d Lieutenant, 

 Intelligence; Mr. Howarth S. Boyle, Ornithology, Naval Base 

 Hospital. Mr. Harold K. Decker entered the United States 

 Navy in September. 



Notwithstanding this handicap, the routine work of the de- 

 partment has progressed steadily, and large accessions have 

 been received from expeditions which were already in the field 

 or organized for field work at the beginning of the year. 



The accessions have come mainly, as usual, from field expedi- 

 tions, and have been important. Additions to the mammal col- 

 lection comprise 2,600 specimens, of which 2,230 

 have been received from Museum expeditions; 40 

 by exchange, 160 by purchase and 175 by gift. The additions 

 to the collection of birds number 3,950 specimens, of which 

 about 3,000 were obtained through Museum expeditions, 413 by 

 exchange with the Sao Paulo and Buenos Aires Museums, 294 

 by purchase, and a few by gift. 



* Under the Department of Mammalogy and Ornithology (see also pages 28, 29 

 and 194). 



