32 Report of the President 



and thus far has cost $105,089.52, will be completed so far at 

 least as research, publication and scientific arrangement of the 

 collections are concerned. The preparation of these collections 

 for exhibition in the African Hall awaits the erection of that 

 important wing. 



RAPID PROGRESS IN THE STUDY AND 

 COLLECTION OF BIRDS 



Ornithology shows the most rapid progress during the last 

 two years under the direction of Curator Chapman. The 

 completion of the Bulletin volume by Dr. Chapman on "The 

 Distribution of Bird Life in Colombia," which was awarded 

 the Daniel Giraud Elliot Gold Medal by the National Acad- 

 emy of Sciences for the year 1917, is being followed by his 

 preparation of Volume II on the birds of Ecuador and the 

 coast region of northwestern Peru. Doctor Chapman will visit 

 the British Museum in May to study the collections of birds 

 there, on which a large part of our knowledge of the Ecua- 

 dorian avifauna is based, and to make exchanges with the 

 British Museum and with the Rothschild Museum at Tring. 

 It is proposed to devote Volume III of this series on the origin 

 of Andean bird-life to the birds of Chile and of the coast 

 region of southern Peru. This will complete the treatment of 

 the terrestrial bird-life of the Pacific coast of South America. 



In the meantime, Dr. Robert Cushman Murphy has been 

 elected an associate of Doctor Chapman on the Museum Staff 

 and is devoting his entire time to the marine birds of the 

 South American coast collected and presented to the Museum 

 through the generosity of two of our Trustees, Mr. Frederick 

 F. Brewster and Dr. Leonard C. Sanford. 



No less important for the future of ornithology in the Mu- 

 seum and in this country is the rearrangement of our entire 

 collection of birds from all the continents into a type series 

 and a study and research series. This has occupied the time 

 for nearly two years past of Mr. Miller and Mr. Griscom. 

 The superb collection of North American birds brought to- 

 gether by Dr. Jonathan Dwight will now be arranged in a spe- 



