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[[circled]] ^[[1]] [[/circled]]
^[[Ridgeway]]
[[underlined]] ^[[Prof Baird]] [[/underlined]]
^[[Curator Report]]

Washington, September 23, 1884.

G. Brown Goode, Esq.,
Assistant Director,
U. S. National Museum.       

^[[The modified plan seems to be an excellent one  GBG]]

^[[Very good SFB]] 

Dear Sir: 

After reconsidering the matter of the bird exhibit for the New Orleans Exposition, from the standpoint of very limited or exhausted funds, I have arrived at the conclusion that a collection formed on the following plan is the only one practicable under the circumstances.   At least, I cannot see how it will be possible, with limited time and resources at our command, to get up a collection that will reflect credit on the Museum on any other basis.   The plan which seems to me most practicable and desirable is the following:---

I.  A collection of North American game birds to be the leading feature.
II.  A collection of birds known to be beneficial.
III.  A collection of birds known to be injurious to Agriculture.
IV.  A collection of European birds to illustrate---
[[underlined]] a. [[/underlined]] The principal game birds of Europe.
[[underlined]] b. [[/underlined]] European birds whose vernacular names have been transferred to American species ([[underlined]] e.g. [[/underlined]] Partridge, Quail, Ortolan, etc.), and
[[underlined]] c. [[/underlined]] Certain European birds well known to Americans through literature but which few people in this country have ever seen, as the Nightingale, Skylark, Linnet, etc.

If considered desirable, a few of the peculiar or char- 

Transcription Notes:
Reveiwed. SFB = Spencer Fullerton Baird GBG = G. Brown Goode. Added in instructions suggested markup of handwritten additions to typed pages ie ^[[text]]. -@siobhanleachman