2 PROCEEDINGS: BOSTON SOCIETY NATURAL HISTORY. 
services of Mr. C. E. Brown were secured and over 2500 duplicates 
or undesirable specimens were unmounted and packed away as skins 
in storage cases. This enabled us to place all of the general collec¬ 
tion of birds on the upper floor; then by removing the New 
England Mollusca, etc., to the main gallery all of the mammals 
were brought together in room M. 
During the year Mr. Brown has been occupied in securing desid¬ 
erata and in making some preliminary groups of the more common 
birds. Small groups have been prepared showing the male and 
female, with nest and eggs, of the cedar bird, red-eyed vireo, Balti¬ 
more oriole, kingbird, catbird, red-winged blackbird, and black-billed 
cuckoo. Six additional birds were secured for the New England 
collection, including two evening grosbeaks, the first obtained in 
this section since 1890 ; nests and eggs of the red-breasted mergan¬ 
ser and herring gull from Ship Island, Moosehead Lake, were also 
added. A handsome specimen of the Carolina dove, from Barn¬ 
stable, was presented by Miss A. T. Handy, and a female ring¬ 
necked duck, from Eastham, was donated by Mr. Dwight Blaney. 
Nests and eggs of the summer yellowbird, American goldfinch, 
song sparrow, and olive-backed thrush were presented by the Nut- 
tall club. Two black swans were presented by Mr. Arthur A. 
Brigham. 
Among the mammals added to the collection is a fine example of 
the Virginia deer, shot by Mr. Brown at Moosehead Lake ; also a 
mink, muskrat, red bat, and a group of chipmunks. A specimen of 
Lynx raffus , shot near Southampton, Mass., was presented by Miss 
Eleanor P. Rathbun, and a large brown bat by Mr. Lawrence 
Brooks. All the bats have been mounted on plate glass. Mr. 
Allen has done considerable work on the skeleton of Mesoplodon 
bidens preparatory to mounting. 
Fishes, Reptiles, etc. 
This collection has been increased by 20 fishes and 15 reptiles 
and batrachians, including a Blanding’s tortoise from Tyngsbor- 
ough, Mass., presented by Mr. Frederick Blanchard, and a box 
tortoise from the same locality, presented by Mr. M. L. Knight. A 
large sjiotted salamander (Amblystoma piinctatum ) was presented 
by Mrs. Augustus Hemenway, and several snakes from Lake Cham- 
