90 Report of the President 



material we have received most desirable accessions from other 

 museums, as noted in detail below. 



Special mention should be made of a collection of 322 

 authentically identified Australian birds, received in exchange 

 from Mr. Edwin E. Ashby, "Wittunga," Blackwood, South 

 Australia. 



All specimens received during the year have been entered in 



our catalogues and given their proper serial number in the 



collection of birds, which now approaches 200,000 



oguing specimens. The cataloguing of nests and eggs 



has also been completed. 



The most important work of the department, and that to 

 which all the members of the staff have devoted by far the 

 greater part of their time during the year, is 

 Rearrange- the complete rearrangement of our collection, and 

 Collections t ^ ie incorporation in it of the thousands of speci- 

 mens received in recent years, which, pending 

 their study, have been maintained as separate collections. This 

 work has necessitated the reidentification of great numbers of 

 species and has included the separation of our collection into 

 the first and second series. The former will contain a pair of 

 every species represented in the collection, and all the types; 

 the latter will contain the series illustrating variations in plu- 

 mage due to age, sex, season, and locality. The first series will 

 be used for ready reference ; the second for detailed study. It 

 is hoped that this task will be completed during the spring of 

 1 92 1, when the working value of our collection will have been 

 greatly augmented. 



The demands made upon our time by the rearrangement of 

 our collections has left comparatively little opportunity for 

 research work; nevertheless, the Curator has 

 Research completed his Report on the Bird-Life of The 



Urubamba Valley, which, when printed, will form a paper of 

 approximately 150 pages, and has also described a number of 

 new species of birds. 



Mr. Miller has utilized specimens received in the flesh from 



