1871.] ON DE. STOLICZKA'S '"MALAYAN ORNITHOLOGY." 99 



Legs reddish yellow. Bill from forehead | of an inch, tarsus f, tail 2^ wing 1}^. In another 

 example the rfectrices above want the pale terminal fringe. 



Obtained at Debrooghur. 



This very distinct species, in its style of coloration, greatly resembles Gmminicola henga- 

 lensis, Jerd. Dr. Jerdon informs me that it occurs all through Assam, but only in dense long 



Observations on Dr. Stoliczka's '' Contributions to Malayan Ornithology'"*. By Arthdb, ibis iSTl 



Viscount Waldex, P.Z.S. [From 'The Ibis,' April 1871.] P- 158.' 



Bt 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, chiefly belonging to the PicaricB 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 unsatisfactory and stereotyped words " Malacca," or " Singapore." In most instances copious 

 notes are added, generally consistingof 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 alono- 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 in the north intersects the Malayan Ibis, 1871, 

 peninsula at the point where the peninsular ornis commences to lose its Sumatran character. 1*" ^^^' 



The synonymy of the Indo-Malayan avifauna remains still, to a great extent, in a backward 

 and unsettled condition. The difficulty of obtaining specimens from the different principal areas 

 of the subregion wherewith to make comparisons is one great reason ; for it is useless to attempt 



* J. A. S. Bengal, vol. xsxix. i>i. ii. p. 277. 



