THE BIRDS OF SOUTH-WEST AND PENINSULAR SIAM. 3 



many times all other collections made in tlie area. We have also had 

 the aJvantage from time to time of examinini^ collections made by 

 Mr. Williamson and Mr. Her])ert and theii- collectors, but the inimber 

 so dealt with has not been lart^o. 



A word is necessary as to the cjeneral plan of the paper. 

 Fiom considerations of expensL* and tinu' it has n .t Vjeen thought 

 necessary or de-iirab'e to lis' all the specimens examined of every 

 form included by u-i. Only those sp-icimens, therefi;re, some 1500 in 

 number, which were collected on our last expeJition from January- 

 April 11)19, are listel. These specimens were all caieTuIIy meisured 

 in the flesh, which has not been thi case with previous collections. 

 The dimensions ^ivan are in the same order as the specimens aie 

 listed in. 



As our publication is intended to be exhaustive to date, it has 

 be^n thought desirable to give as fully as possib'e all re:-ords of 

 occurrences in the area. Synonymic and taxonomical references are 

 as far as possible omitted. As articles on the area are few in number, 

 but have constantV to be referred to, it has been found to be a saving 

 of space to denote en'Ai by a capital, A. B. C, etc , after the first. 



The full references of the whole series are printed at the foot 

 of each page. We have adopted this ingenious p^an from Mr. Stanley 

 Kemp's " Catalogue of the Scientific Serial Publications in the 

 Principal Libraries of Calcutta." (Calcutta, 1918). 



In a certain number of cases where we are convinced that a 

 form viu'<t occur in the area, though it has not been recorded, we have 

 added it to our list. Such species are distinguished, apart from any 

 context, by having no serial number attached. 



It is hoped that the keys may be of use to those wishful of 

 identifying birds from this region. There are, as a rule, so few- 

 species to each genus that it has been found simpler to combine the 

 keys into one for each family : it must be under.stood that the.se are 

 strictly artificial and will only work against the species in our li.st 

 It has been found undesirable to attempt to provide primary keys for 

 the orders and families. These it is hoped Avill not be found necessary, 

 it being presumed that the majority of persons into whose hands this 



VOL. V, NO. 1, 1921. 



