46 



ANNUAL REPORT OF THE 



REPORT ON THE MAMMALS AND BIRDS. 



By William Brewster. 



Most of our collections of mounted Mammals and Birds were 

 long since so nearly completed, — at least in the sense of filling 

 the spaces available for their exhibition, — that of late there has 

 been neither incentive nor opportunity to add much to them. The 

 Europaso-Siberian Room has constituted an exception to this rule, 

 but during the past year its collections have been augmented by 

 the addition of several valuable Mammals, and no less than one 

 hundred and fifty-four Birds. The Mammals are a Reindeer 

 (Rangifer tarandus), a fine male Beaver (Castor fiber), a male 

 Marmot (Arctomys marmota), and two Varying Hares (Lepus 

 variabilis'), representing the summer and winter pelages of the 

 species. The Beaver was taken in Germany, the Marmot and 

 Hares are from Switzerland. All of these specimens were pur- 

 chased mounted of a dealer in Switzerland. 



The Birds comprise eighty specimens from Japan, and seventy- 

 four from various parts of Europe and Siberia. Of the latter, a 

 Wall-Creeper (Tichodroma muraria), a Chough (Fregilus graculus), 

 a Great Black Woodpecker QDryocopus martins), two Three-toed 

 Woodpeckers (Picoides tridactylus), a Pygmy Owl (G-laucidium 

 passerinum) , and a Coot QFulica atra) were bought mounted of 

 the Swiss dealer above referred to. The remaining European 

 birds, as well as all of those from Japan, were mounted by J. T. 

 Clark from skins taken from the Museum collections or furnished 

 by Alan Owston of Yokohama. A pair of Red-cockaded Wood- 

 peckers (JDryobates borealis), a Traill's Flycatcher (Empidonax 

 traillii), and an Alder Flycatcher (Empidonax traillii alnorum) 

 have also been mounted to fill gaps in the North American Faunal 

 Room. The selection and identification of the skins, and the la- 

 belling and arrangement of the mounted birds after they were 

 ready to be placed in the cases, have been done chiefly by Mr. 

 Faxon, who, during my absence from Cambridge, has been kind 



