345 



ORNITHOLOGY 



IX the eiirliiT (.'ilitiuii, Dr. Mason thus prefaced his account of tlio birds of Burma, 

 with a kI'iuco at the progress which a couple of decades had made in that 

 branch of Natural History: — "'The dodo may possibly he found there — and the 

 cnssoirari/ may perhaps be met with,' observed Dr. Pearson in his official charge to 

 Dr. Heifer, when the latter was about to proceed on his scientific mission to the 

 Tenasserim Provinces. The dodo and cassowary were about as probably inhabitants 

 of Burma as the plicenix and ostrich ; but the remark shows how little was known 

 of onr ornitliology fifteen or twenty years ago. Indeed it was quite a blank until 

 Major Pliayre, then in Arakan, commenced his collections, and Mr. Blyth entered 

 on his duties as curator of the Museum of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. Wlien 

 I went over the birds of Burma with Mr. Blyth in 18o4, I found eighty-eight 

 species in the Museum, represented by specimens sent up by Jlajor I'liayre, and 

 these were but a fi-action of the number he had furnislied, many having been 

 replaced by fresher specimens from more recent contributors. Since that period, 

 1 find more than fifty specimens, acknowledged in the Journal, as having been 

 nceived from him on one occasion, in Pegu. Tlie next largest contributors from 

 Burma are Rev. Mr. Barbe, Captain Alibot, Mr. 0' Riley, ilaj<ir Berdmore, and 

 Major Tickell." 



Since Mason penned these words, many good men and true have taken up the 

 work, as their predecessors fell out of the ranks of that army which is ever marching 

 on — and some not unworthy successors to the first pioneers may here be quoted, 

 Tytler, Blanford, Ramsay, Gates, de lloopstorff, Fielden, Armstrong, Ball, Davison, 

 Bingham, Viscount Walden, the discriminating editor of Blyth's posthumously 

 published list of Burmese Mammals and Birds (Jour. As. Soc. Bengal, Extra Number 

 for 1875), and last, but not least, A. 0. Hume, the zealous, able and entertaining 

 editor of Stray Feathers. The present list has been mainly compiled from the lists 

 given by Blyth and Hume, but below ' are enumerated a few of the principal papers 



'1. I.ist of Birds knorni to occur in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, by V. Ball. Stray 

 Feathers, I. p. 51. Species 133. 



2. ' Die I'apageien.' A review, hot, strong, and well laid on, by A. 0. Ilume, S. F. II. p. 1. 



3. The Islands of the Bay of Bengal. 



This is an aceount of a cmise undertaken by Mr. Hume in company with Dr. Stoliczka, Mr. Ball, 

 and Mr. Wood-Mason. It is highly interesting, and crammed with amusing and instructive matter. 



5. F. II. p. 29. 



4. A first List of the Birds nf the Tenasserim Provinces, by A. 0. Hume. S. F. II. p. 4G7. 



0. Additional Notes on tli(> Avifauna of the Andaman Islaiids, by .V. O. Ilunie. S. F. II. p. 49. 



6. A first List of the Birds of Upper Pegu, by A. 0. Hume and Eugene W. Oates, C.E. S. F. III. 



p. 1. 



7. A second List of the Birds of Tenasserim bv A. O. Hume. S. F. III. p. 317. 



8. Notes on some Burmese Birds, by Eum-ne \V. Oates, C. E. S. F. III. p. 33.5. 



9. Additional Notes on the Avifauna of tlie Andaman Islands, by A. O. Hume. S. F. IV. p. 279. 



10. Notes on some Birds eolleeted in the Eastern or Kangoon district of the Irrawaddy Delta, by James 



Armstrong, B.A. S. F. IV. p. 29.'). 



11. Notes on the Nidification of some Birds in Biumah, by C. F. Bingham. S. F. V. p. 79. 



