EXPLORATIOXS OF DR. HUGH AI. SAHTH IN SIAM 



By HERBERT FRIEDMANN, 



Curator. Diz'isioii of Birds. I'. S. Xatioiial }[uscuin 



During the ])a.st }ear Dr. Hugh AI. Smith, director of the fisheries 

 of Siam. has continued collecting in his spare time for the National 

 Ahtseum and. as in ]M'evious years, the material gathered has heen of 

 great interest and value. The specimens received at the National 

 Museum this year total (jver 4.500. representing most of the major 

 groups of animals and including some -|00 plants as well. Among the 

 more imjiortant lots are some 59 mammals. 603 bird skins and 10 

 skeletons. 205 re])tiles and am])hihians, 1.643 in^t^cts, 1.500 mollusks, 

 and 158 miscellaneous invertebrates, especially crustaceans. The total 

 collections of Siamese l)irds sent in by Dr. Smith now amount to 

 about 3.000 si)ecimens, one of the largest ornithological collections 

 ever made in that country, while the mollusks received comprise one 

 of the most important oriental collections of that group in the National 

 Musetuu. The mammals collected are notable for the number of 

 squirrels and ]:irimitive tree-shrews represented. 



Inasmuch as no diary or photographs have been received from 

 Doctor Smith, it is difficult to construct an orderly account of his 

 travels, and until >uch data are forthcoming, the best we can do is to 

 f(UOte from his letters in chronological sequence. Writing from 

 Bangkok on Feliruary 10. Doctor Smith announces the sending 

 of a large shipment, esjjecially of birds. ". . . . from the moun- 

 tains of northern Siam. and some from Doi Angka (or Doi Intanon). 

 the highest Siamese mountain, where no previous zoological col- 

 lecting had been done. Another lot is from Doi Sutep. near 

 C'hiengmai "" 



The latter mountain rises as an isolated ]ieak from a flat plain about 

 six miles west of Chiengmai. The first 1.500 feet of the slopes are 

 sparsely covered with scrubby trees, but. at 1.700 feet this dry belt 

 is rej^laced bv dense, green forest. 



'■ I am just al)Out to leave for a long trip to northeastern Siam. where 

 ]iractically no collecting has been done in any zoological group. I go 

 l)y rail to Korat, and thence by easy stages to the ^Mekong at Nong 

 Kai and Men Cheng." 



Mr. Rodolphe Mever de Schauensee has recently made two col- 

 lecting trips to northern Siam in the interests of the Academy of 



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