2 ON A COLLECTION OF BIRDS 



In June 1833 the well-known Dutch traveller S. Mul- 

 ler, accompanied by V a n Oort, Korthals and Burger, 

 all members of the » Natuurkundige Commissie", were di- 

 rected to Padang , on the West Coast of Sumatra , a country 

 where formerly but some few objects were collected and 

 forwarded to the Leyden Museum by the Major He n r i c i ^). 

 The last months of 1833 and the years 1834 and 1835 

 were bestowed on the exploration of the Lowlands and 

 Highlands of Padang and enormous collections of 

 every kind were sent to Europe. In September 1834 van 

 Oort died at Padang, and towards the end of 1835 Muller 

 and Korthals returned to Batavia. 



Two years later another attempt was made by Dr. Hor- 

 ner, also member of the » Commissie", who, after having 

 made part, together with Muller and Korthals, of the 

 expedition to Banjermassing (Borneo) , arrived at Padang 

 on the 24*li of June 1837. He was accompanied by the 

 Dutch preparator v e r d ij k. Notwithstanding most of 

 their time was spent with geological observations , Dr. 

 Horner furnished the Leyden Museum with a considerable 

 number of Birds , collected in the vicinity of Padang 

 and on the Islands along the West Coast, especially at 

 Poel o Tello. He died at Padang after about l^/g year's 

 stay in that country, the 7th December 1838. 



A report of the Birds collected during the explorations 

 by the mentioned Dutch Naturalists has never been pu- 

 blished , but many of them have been described and figured 

 by Temminck in his Planches Coloriées, others in the Ver- 

 handelingen over de Natuurlijke Geschiedenis der Nederland- 

 sche Overzeesche Bezittingen by Muller and Schlegel , Zoö- 

 logie, and by Muller alone , Laud- en Volkenkunde. The 

 large collections , stored up in the Leyden Museum , have 

 also furnished part of the materials for Schlegel's Catalogue 

 du Musée des Pays- Bas and for his Vogels van Nederlandsch 



1) One of these species, Megalaema Henricii, not found by any subsequent 

 traveller in Sumatra and thus only known by the typical specimen, figured 

 by Temminck in the Planches Coloriées , is rediscovered by Dr. Klaesi. 



Notes from the Leyden Museum, Vol. IX. 



