A COLLECTION OF BIRDS FROM THE PROVINCES OF 

 YUNNAN AND SZECHWAN, CHINA, MADE FOR THE 

 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY BY DR. JOSEPH F. 

 ROCK 



By J, H. Riley 



Aid, Division of Birds, United States National Museum 



During explorations for the National Geographic Society in south- 

 western China Dr. Joseph F. Rock, in connection with other collec- 

 tions in natural history, took advantage of the opportunity to secure 

 an excellent series of birds, which, upon his return, were presented 

 with other material by the National Geographic Society to_ the 

 United States National Museum. The collection is remarkably 

 complete in that it includes skins of most of the larger forms which 

 few collectors trouble to prepare, particularly when traveling under 

 difficult conditions, as in the present case. The specimens received, 

 all beautifully prepared by native workmen, are a distinct addition 

 to the division of birds in that they constitute one of the largest 

 accessions of recent years and that they represent an area from 

 which we had practically no material previously. Among them are 

 species hitherto unknown to science, as well as an excellent repre- 

 sentation of birds described from previous expeditions and rare 

 in nuiseums, since they are restricted in range to this area, a region 

 difficult of access. Doctor Rock is to be complimented upon his 

 energy and interest in procuring so excellent a representation. 



Doctor Rock began his ornithological work in Yunnan early in 

 March, 1923, in the vicinity of Tengyueh, near the Burma border, 

 and started northeast for the Likiang Snow Mountains, which were 

 reached early in April. Here he worked in the mountains or sur- 

 rounding plains until September, when he went northwest to the 

 valley of the Mekong in northwestern Yunnan to collect during 

 October and Novetober on various ranges of mountains between the 

 Yangtze and Mekong. Most of these ranges are nearer the Mekong 

 than they are to the Yangtze, except the Litiping Mountains, which 

 form the divide between the two streams and are about midway 

 between them, just north of where the Yangtze turns abruptly north 



No. 2654. — Proceedings U. S. National Museum, Vol. 70, Art. 5. 



3039—26 1 1 



