Most of the specimens are from Washington, Oregon, and elsewhere in western North America, but many have been acquired from other parts of the world through collecting and exchange. Specimens are being continually acquired by the museum, and the collections are growing by 1-2%/year. Many skeletons of birds and mammals have been prepared to accompany the more traditional skin collections. Especially noteworthy are the largest collections of herps and bird eggs in the Northwest and, until very recently, the largest collection of mammals in the Northwest. The bird wing collection is also of special significance, as a fifth of the bird specimens in the collection have been prepared since 1990 and thus have associated wings. Because it contains series of many species of vertebrates from throughout western North America, the Puget Sound Museum is an excellent source of material for the study of geographic variation.