19 



REPORT ON THE MAMMALS AND BIRDS. 



By William Brewster. 



During the past year comparatively few additions have been 

 made to the mounted collections in this department. A fine 

 Sable Antelope QHippotragus niger), from the Matabele country, 

 and a good adult of the rare West Indian Seal (Monachus 

 tropicalis), both furnished by Ward, are the only mammals of 

 especial interest. Of birds, the Museum has purchased a col- 

 lection of eighty-one specimens, representing seventy-nine species, 

 collected in Australia and New Guinea by the Messrs. Denton ; 

 some eighteen species of wading and swimming birds from the 

 North Pacific, six species peculiar to Guadalupe Island (off 

 Lower California) ; and a superb specimen of the Northern 

 Sea Eagle (Thalassoaetus pelagicus), taken by Dr. Stejneger in 

 Kamtschatka. 



Some further progress has been made towards filling the cases 

 in the Atlantic and Pacific Rooms, but pelagic birds and mam- 

 mals are difficult to obtain, and several years are likely to 

 pass before these collections can be brought to anything like 

 completeness. 



Early in the year an examination was made of the alcoholic 

 collection of birds and mammals stored in the basement. Its 

 condition proved unsatisfactory in several respects. The speci- 

 mens, as a rule, were in a fair state of preservation, but many of 

 them were either unlabelled, or marked with numbers which 

 did not agree with the corresponding ones in any of the Museum 

 catalogues. Moreover, there were many more duplicates, espe- 

 cially of some of the commoner species, than the Museum is ever 

 likely to need. Much of this worthless or superfluous material 

 was discarded, but very much more can be spared to advan- 

 tage. Unfortunately, this work will require more time than the 

 Assistant can hope to give to it in the near future. 



