58 Mr. R. B. Sharpens Introduction 



Lastly we have to consider the ornithology of the Indo- 

 Malayan subregion. In 1854 a list of the birds of Malacca 

 collected by Dr. Cantor was commenced by Mr. F. Moore. 

 But the best accounts of the birds of the ^Malayan peninsula 

 are those of Mr. Hume in ' Stray Feathers ' (founded on the 

 collections made by Mr, Davison in the western half of the 

 peninsula) and of Lieut. Kelham in ' The Ibis.^ Mr. Davison 

 has proved by his researches that many of the Malayan birds 

 range into Southern Tenasserim ; and it is much to be re- 

 gretted that this energetic collector has been disabled by the 

 state of his health from exploring the eastern half of the 

 Malayan peninsula^ which is zoologically absolutely unknown. 

 It will remain for some future explorer^ therefore^ to visit this 

 dangerous and unknown region, when, as an ornithological 

 result, it will doubtless be discovered that many species 

 inhabiting the Eastern Himalayas and the hills of Burmah 

 and Tenasserim extend their range to the mountains of Java 

 and Sumatra along the elevated ridge which forms the back- 

 bone of the Malayan peninsula. 



For our knowledge of the ornithology of Sumatra we are 

 still mainly dependent upon the collections of the old Dutch 

 travellers, Solomon Midler and others, who penetrated the 

 mountain-ranges of the island ; if we except the successful 

 expedition made by Dr. Beccari in 1878, and the more recent 

 researches of Mr. H. O. Forbes, lately recorded by Mr. F. 

 Nicholson. The collections made near the coast, such as 

 those of the late Mr, E. C. Buxton in Lampong, have mainly 

 resulted in the procuring of common Malayan and Borneau 

 forms. 



But little has been written on the ornithology of Java. 

 Horsfield^s list of the birds procured by him, and subsequent 

 observations by Dr. Bernstein, Mr. H. O. Forbes, and Mr. 

 Vordeman comprise nearly all we know of the ornithology 

 of the island ; but rich collections are contained in the 

 Leiden Museum, and the British Museum likewise possesses 

 a good series prepared by Mr. Wallace, and by no means the 

 least valuable result of that naturalist's expedition to the 

 East. 



