670 PROCEEDINGS OP THE ACADEMY OF [Oct. 



A COLLECTION OF BIRDS FROM SUMATRA, OBTAINED BY ALFRED C- 

 HARRISON, JR., AND DR. H. M. HILLER. 



BY WITMER STONE. 



The present paper is based upon a collection of bird skins col- 

 lected on the Island of Sumatra by Mr. Alfred C. Harrison, Jr., 

 and Dr. H. M. Hiller, and presented by them to the Academy of 

 Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. The collection, representing 138 

 species, is the most extensive ever brought to America from this 

 island and adds materially to our knowledge of the distribution and 

 relationship of a number of species. 



Collecting was carried on at three different points : ( 1 ) At Batu 

 Sangkar, Tanah Datar, in the highlands east of I'adang, at from 

 1,500 to 3,000 feet elevation, during August and September, 

 1901; (2) at Goenong Soegi, in the Lampong district of south- 

 eastern Sumatra, at an elevation of less than 500 feet, during Octo- 

 ber and November, 1901, and (3) in the vicinity of Padang. No 

 further data accompanies the specimens, but the collectors inform 

 me that the apparent presence of a species exclusively at one 

 locality, as shown by the specimens, does not necessarily indicate 

 its absence from another, as species well represented in the Padang 

 collection were in some instances passed byiu Lampong. In conse- 

 quence of this the fact that of 94 species obtained in Lampong and 

 59 in Padang, only 33 wei'e secured in both places loses mucn of its 

 signiticance. Moreover, upon comparing the published lists of Su- 

 matra birds we find that the Marquis of Tweeddale's report, based 

 upon a Lampong collection (Ibis 1877), con tarns 81 species not 

 found in the present series, while our material includes 35 not men- 

 tioned by Tweeddale. 



While information is still inadequate to form generalizations 

 upon the details of the distribution of birds on the island, it would 

 seem that the majority of the species range from the lower Malay 

 peninsula throughout Sumatra and many into Java without mate- 

 rial differentiation ; and a comparison of the combined lists from 

 Deli, in the northwestern extremity of the island, with those of 



