| While compiling a computer database of the avian specimens of the E.A. Goeldi collection a considerable number of skins with original labels from John Gould were discovered. In an earlier inventory they had been registered as part of the Goeldi collection, but as there was no apparent connection with Goeldi, these skins were assumed to be part of an acquisition of birds from John Gould mentioned in the Natural History Museum Bern (NMBE) committee minutes of 1862 (Güntert et al., 1993). Subsequent investigation, however, revealed that these hummingbirds and other specimens were indeed given by the BMNH to Goeldi at the Museu Paraense in Brazil in September 1895, shortly after Goeldi had been appointed director of this institution. In addition, the proper... |
