Viewing page 60 of 82

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

5.  WHAT SPECIAL INVESTIGATIONS HAVE YOU COMMENCED,CONTINUED,OR OCMPLETED, UPON THE MATERIAL UNDER YOUR CARE, DURING THE YEAR.

[[rest of document is hand-written]]

The elaborate treatise on the Galapagoan airfauna was completed at the end of the year, and the paper submitted for publications. This consists of some 650 pages of manuscript, accompanied by outline maps illustrating the range of all the species known to inhabit the archipelago, and two plates of outline figures illustrating generic and specific characters.  The text includes observations on the origin of the Galapagoan influence and other matters.  On the whole, this is the most carefully prepared, in some respects the most important, work that the author has written.

The airfauna of the island satellites of Madagascar, from the Comore group to the Mascareves has been somewhat similarly worked up, though in less detail. The paper embodying the results of this work is based primarily on Dr. Abbot's collections from Alhabra, Assumtion, Gloriosa, Seyshelles, etc., and is not quite finished.

The comprehensive work on the birds of North and Middle America has made some progress, but not a satisfactory one considering the magnitude and importance of the task, notwithstanding the writer has given all the time possible to it, even devoting at times as much as ten to nearly twelve hours labor per day upon it, and working frequently several hours at night at his house.  The families thus far covered are the Grebes ([[underlined]] Colymbidae) [[/underlined]], Loons ([[underlined]] Urinatoridae) [[/underlined]], ducks ([[underlined]] Alcidae) [[/underlined]], gulls and