, 
The average time allotted to the study of zodlogy in the courses of 
these schools was 19 weeks, the longest time being 82 weeks, and 
the shortest 10. The total number of pupils pursuing the study of 
zoology in 54 schools was 1,812, giving an average of 23 to each 
school. The total number of specimens of fishes in these 58 
schools was 190, averaging a little less than 4 to each school, or, 
leaving out the collections of the Peru high school, the remainder 
averaged about # of a specimen to each collection. The insects of 
these schools number 1,033 specimens, averaging about 20 to each 
school. Crustaceans number 203 specimens—less than 4 to a 
school—and the marine invertebrates 65 specimens—a little more 
than 1 to a school. Cases for the reception of zodlogical specimens 
are reported in forty instances—an evidence of the willingness of 
boards of education to provide for natural history material, which 
is far in advance of the opportunities hitherto enjoyed for obtain- 
ing it. 
Upon the basis of the data thus obtained, a list of the schools 
has been arranged in the order of their relative necessities, and the 
specimens in hand will be issued to the schools as they appear 
upon this list, as far as the material now available will go. : 
INVESTIGATION OF THE FOOD OF BIRDS. 
No part of the recent work of the Laboratory has excited a wider 
interest than that relating to the food of birds. These animals, the 
most abundant of our vertebrates, are so largely and intimately 
related to agriculture and horticulture, and the question of their 
value has been discussed so hotly and for so long a time (hitherto 
with very indefinite and unsatisfactory results) that a thorough 
investigation, intended to set this question at rest by accumulating 
facts and figures whose indications should be decisive and unmis- 
takable, has commanded a warm support and awakened a lively 
expectation. [ am glad to say that this expectation is not likely 
to be disappointed, and that the entire problem is in process of 
satisfactory solution. Definite and apparently demonstrable conclu- 
sions have been reached concerning the food-habits and economical 
value of several of the most abundant and important birds, and 
materials gathered for the study of many more species. Partly by 
using every opportunity to collect the stomachs of birds, and partly 
_by interesting other ornithologists in this work, we have accumu- 
lated 3,100 stomachs, representing 184 species, belonging to 388 
families. These were preserved in alcohol and labeled with specific 
name, locality and date. Most of these have been emptied into 
small vials of alcohol, bearing similar labels and arranged regularly 
for easy reference. I have thus far made a critical microscopic 
study of the contents of 475 stomachs, chiefly of bluebirds, meadow- 
‘arks and the various species of the thrush family, and have exam- 
ined, less thoroughly, about as many more. An elaborate paper on 
the food of the thrush family was prepared for the 18th volume of 
the “Transactions of the State Horticultural Society,” and published 
in December, 1879. A summary of the preceding paper and a sim- 
‘ilar full discussion of the food of the bluebird was prepared for the 
“American Entomologist,” and a second paper upon the bluebird’s 
food for the “American Naturalist.” About sixty pages of Bulletin 
