14 



First is the acquisition, by purchase, of the Lawrence Collection 

 of American birds, numbering about 12,000 specimens and 4,000 

 species, including about 300 original types of species described by 

 our veteran ornithologist, Mr. George N. Lawrence, of whose life- 

 work the collection is a result. The collection is eminently a 

 reference collection, containing, as it does, about two-thirds of all 

 the known species of American birds, carefully determined by the 

 highest authorities. It thus forms, so far as it goes, a dictionary 

 of American birds, and especially of the birds of the tropical por- 

 tion of America. 



Second, the addition of the Elliot Collection of Humming- 

 birds, numbering about 2,000 specimens, representing about 400 

 species. Besides being one of the largest and most valuable col- 

 lections of its kind in the world, it has special value from having 

 formed the basis of Mr. Elliot's monograph of this group of birds, 

 entitled "A Classification and Synopsis of the Trochilidae," pub- 

 lished by the Smithsonian Institution in 1879. This collection 

 also includes many types of species. 



Third, the addition, by purchase, of 4,000 bird skins, several 

 hundred birds' eggs, and several hundred bird sterna, from the 

 Province of Matto Grosso, Brazil, collected by Mr. Herbert H. 

 Smith. This collection numbers about 300 species, many of them 

 of special interest, and not previously represented in our collection. 



Fourth, the addition to the exhibition collection of a series of 

 bird groups, eighteen in number, each consisting of apair of birds, 

 with its nest and eggs, mounted in characteristic attitudes, and 

 surrounded by natural accessories, each group being a facsimile 

 reproduction from nature of the vegetable and other surroundings 

 of the nest. These groups, modeled after the plan of the bird 

 groups in the British Museum at South Kensington, are the first 

 of the kind to be placed on exhibition in America. They have 

 been prepared with fidelity and skill, for which great credit is due 

 to Mrs. E. S. Mogridge and her brother, Mr Minturn, formerly 

 at the South Kensington Museum, for the modeling of the plants, 

 and to Mr. Jenness Richardson, of the Museum, for the skillful 

 designing of the groups and the effectiveness of the general 

 results. 



The efficiency of the bird department has been further greatly 

 enhanced by the addition to the Library, by purchase, of Mr. U. 

 G. Elliot's ornithological library, consisting of about 1,000 vol- 

 umes, carefully selected with respect to their utility as indis- 

 pensible works of reference. This addition provides the Museum 

 with an excellent ornithological library, surpassed by very few 

 similar libraries in this country. 



During the year a very important change has been made in the 

 method of storing the unmounted skins, through the adoption for 



