1875.] 



SENATE— No. 75. 



7 



Report on the Mammals ayid Birds, hy Z. A. Allen. 



Since the report of last year the large exhibition-room has 

 been finished, and the cases of the lower part filled with 

 mammals and birds, the collection embracing not only stufied 

 skins, but mounted skeletons and fossils, arranged together 

 in as nearly a systematic order as their size and the limitations 

 of the cases will allow. Much of this material has not before 

 been on exhibition. The stands of the specimens previously 

 on exhibition have been repainted, and the whole uniformly 

 labelled with neatly printed labels. The room proved much 

 too small for the material that had accumulated for exhibition, 

 and the floor cases in the north rooms of the older part of 

 the building have been used to temporarily shelter the 

 specimens that could not be arranged in the large room 

 from dust, and protect them from the attacks of insects, — 

 necessarily at the expense, however, of breaking in somewhat 

 upon the systematic arrangement of the collections. 



In addition to the work on the exhibition collection, the 

 bones of the recent mammalia have been wholly catalogued, 

 marked, labelled and systematically arranged, so that this 

 material is now not only readily accessible but safe for use, 

 as it has not been heretofore. While mixtures, and, to some 

 extent, loss of labels, have occurred from the frequent removals 

 to which the collection has been subject, it has in most cases 

 been possible to repair these defects. This collection already 

 numbers nearly two thousand specimens, a large proportion 

 of which are skeletons. In the registering and marking of 

 this material, very great assistance has been kindly rendered 

 by Mr. Ed. A. Birge. 



The additions during the year to either the mammals or 

 birds have been, for obvious reasons, much fewer than usual, 

 as shown by the subjoined schedules. Mr. Ward, of Koches- 

 ter, has returned a considerable number of pieces sent him in 

 former years, prepared with the usual skill and neatness that 

 characterize his work. The collections received from the 

 Smithsonian Institution are the only ones worthy of special 

 mention, these consisting of the first dupli-series of the 

 North American Sciuridm and Leporidaz, and nests and eggs 

 of North American birds. The former have special value as 



