158 Viscount Walden un Dr. Stoliczka's 



XII. — Observations on Dr. Stoliczka's " Contributions to Ma- 

 layan Ornithology"^. By Arthur, Viscount Walden, P.Z.S. 



By the publication of the paper the title of which is given above, 

 Dr. Stoliczka has materially increased our knowledge of the 

 ornithology of a region hitherto but little known. The small 

 British possession of Province Wellesley appears never to have 

 been before explored by the ornithologist, unless some portion 

 of the so-called Pinang collections, which occasionally come to 

 Europe, are made on the mainland. From this district Dr. 

 Stoliczka enumerates about eighty-six species, chieHy belonging 

 to the Picarice and Passeres. And it is perhaps the principal 

 merit of these " contributions " that while they enable us, for 

 the first time, to fix the northern limits of some, they extend 

 our acquaintance with the range of many Malaccan species. 

 Thanks to Dr. Stoliczka, our knowledge of the habitat of many 

 Malayan species can no longer be summed up in the unsatis- 

 factory and stereotyped words " IMalacca," or " Singapore." 

 In most instances copious notes are added, generally consisting 

 of elaborate descriptions, objections to the validity of certain 

 species, and rectifications in accordance with the author's views 

 of the synonymy of others. 



Province Wellesley is a narrow strip of land which runs for 

 about thirty-five miles along the western coast of the Malay 

 peninsula, opposite to Pinang. It does not appear to extend 

 more than four miles inland ; and as it occupies so small a part 

 of the breadth of the Malayan peninsula, we must not be too 

 sure that its birds do more than approximately indicate the 

 character of the ornis within the same degrees of latitude. It 

 is quite possible that Malaccan peninsular forms which appear 

 to cease in the Province, may, further inland, have a more 

 northern limit, or that Indo-Burmese species may descend 

 further south. Yet in the province itself a change in the 

 character of the avifauna does occur, and many Malaccan 

 species there cease, and Indo-Burmese there begin to appear. 

 And, whether it be a mere coincidence or something more, the 

 parallel of latitude at which the island of Sumatra terminates 

 * J. A. S. Bengal, vol. xxxix. pt. ii. 



