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24.

7. [[wavy underline]]Recommendations and General Remarks[[/wavy underline]].

The most pressing needs of the Department of Birds are: 

(1) Additional storage capacity, in the way of at least four more large "Salvin" cabinets, like those in the West Basement, provided with 12-inch drawers, and twelve quarter-unit (or three unit) table-cases, each provided with four 8-inch and one 6-inch drawers, with glass top.

(2) Suitable storage room or rooms for these cabinets, with others now in the top room of the South-tower. These cabinets should be located either on the first floor of the Smithsonian building, in one of the galleries of the main hall, or in the West basement; the main object being to have all the parts of the collection, now so widely separated, brought together, and as near to the mounted collection as possible. The benefit to the department by this change would be almost incalculable, one of the greatest obstacles to the work being the length of time required to communicate between the different storage localities, not to speak of the great fatigue and positive injury to health resulting from the necessity