MAMMALS AND BIRDS 
For these groups the Museum is directly indebted to Mr. John L. 
Cadwalader, Mrs. Morris K. Jesup, Mrs. Philip Schuyler, Mi's. John 
B. Trevor, Mrs. Robert Winthrop, Mr. F. Augustus Schermerhorn, 
Mr. H. B. HoUins, Mr. Henry Clay Pierce, Mr. Henry W. Poor, Mr. 
Courtney Brandreth, Mr. James C. Carter, Mr. Charles Lanier, and 
Miss Caroline L. Morgan, to whose subscriptions an equal sum has 
been added from the funds of the Museum. 
SCIENTIFIC STAFF 
As Superintendent of the Museum, Professor A. S. Bickmore had p™'^^™'' 
general charge of the mammals and birds during the early develop- more, im. 
ment of this department. In 1872 Dr. J. B. Holder was appointed a ^r. j. b. 
general assistant to Professor Bickmore and devoted his attention to rsTz^-Isss. 
the zoological collections. He was made Curator of Zoology in 1881. 
In 1885 the Department of Zoology was divided into two departments 
— that of Mammals and Birds, and Marine Zoology. Dr. Holder was 
Curator of the latter, which position he held until his death in 1888, 
having been in the service of the Museum for seventeen years. Dr. 
Holder was an associate of Professor Agassiz and Professor Baird and 
had made important investigation on the fauna of New England waters 
and later in Florida. He was a voluminous writer, and made many 
important contributions to science. 
In 1885 Dr. J. A. Allen was made Curator of the Department of 
Mammals and Birds. Dr. Allen had studied under Agassiz, and served ^- ^■ 
Allen, 
as an assistant in ornithology in the Museum of Comparative Zoology i885- 
at Harvard. He had already become an authority in several lines of 
research. When Dr. Allen assumed charge of the Department, the 
collection of mammals numbered not far from 1,000 mounted skins, 
and about 300 mounted skeletons. The collection of birds numbered 
about 10,000 mounted specimens, and about 300 unmounted skins, 
besides several hundred mounted skeletons. Through Dr. Allen's 
efforts the Department of Taxidermy was established in 1886. He also 
started the first study collections, which a year after his appointment 
numbered 6,000 skins of birds, and from his department also the first 
[73] 
