Introduction 



The late Count Nils Gyldenstolpe, of Sweden, was the author of the 

 only previously pubhshed and theoretically complete checkhst of the 

 birds of Thailand. His "A Nominal List of the Birds at Present 

 Known to Inhabit Siam" (Ibis, 1920, pp. 446-496, 569-607, 735-780) 

 gave the names of 732 forms, of which some were only dubiously to be 

 considered Siamese. The present hst includes the names of 1,173 

 birds and is complete so far as the avifauna of Thailand is known at 

 this date (1962). 



For information on the Siamese collections in their care and, often, 

 for the privilege of personal examination of important specimens, I 

 owe thanks to literally dozens of museums in America, Europe, and 

 Asia, and to members of their ornithological staffs. Special gratitude 

 is due Mrs. B. P. HaU, of the British Museum (Natural History), 

 London, who painstakingly recorded for me the data for the entire 

 extensive collection of Siamese birds presented the Museum by the late 

 Su- Walter J. F. WiUiamson, C.M.G. 



I should mention also the rich collections of Dr. Bun Song Lekhakun 

 of Bangkok and of Dr. Robert E. Elbel, USOM/Thailand, who have 

 sent me copious material during the past ten years, and whose explora- 

 tions of previously uninvestigated areas have added dozens of birds 

 to the Siamese hst. 



Finally, I must express my heartfelt thanks to Dr. Edward H. Taylor 

 and Dr. George W. Byers, Editors of the University of Kansas Science 

 Bulletin, who have graciously permitted me to use their invaluable 

 plate of the map of Thailand sho\\dng provincial boundaries. 



Herbert G. Deignan 



