Report of the President 53 



The Curator contemplates the preparation of an illustrated 

 Descriptive Review of the Mineral Localities of the United 

 States. 



This report does not reflect the various details of re- 

 arrangement, installment in the hall, correspondence and the 

 entertainment of visitors, of which last the end of the year 

 supplied a large number. 



MAMMALS AND BIRDS 



DEPARTMENT OF MAMMALOGY AND ORNITHOLOGY 



J. A. Allen, Curator 



The collections received are quite as important as those 



of last year, numbering about 1,000 mammals and 9,000 birds. 



... , About 200 mammals and 1,100 birds 



Acquisitions and . , .. , ' 



. , , , were received by gift, and about 165 



Acknowledgments , ,',.,, 



mammals and 35 birds by exchange, the 



rest having been acquired by purchase and through Museum 

 expeditions, the latter including about 400 mammals and about 

 4,000 birds. The specimens secured by expeditions were all 

 collected in South America, under the direction of Curator 

 Chapman. The most important gifts include a collection of 

 87 mammals from British East Africa, presented by Paul J. 

 Rainey, and a collection of about 1,100 hummingbirds pre- 

 sented by D. C. Stapleton. We have received as usual many 

 valuable birds and mammals in the flesh from the New York 

 Zoological Society and the Department of Parks. The 

 Museum is also indebted to Robert Broom for valuable 

 insectivores and other mammals from South Africa. 



At last accounts the Congo Expedition, after four years of 

 ._, ,. . eminently successful field work, had completed 



the packing of its large and varied collections 

 for shipment to the Museum. 



The explorations in South America under the direction of 

 Curator Chapman have been extended to cover a much wider 

 field than heretofore, and the importance of the results in the 

 immediate future will doubtless be thereby greatly increased. 

 During the early part of the year Dr. Chapman with several 



