16 



The locality '' Penaiig ' attributed to six specimens in tlie British 

 Museum is certainly ei'i'oneous. the birds having pi-obably been 

 brought over alive to Ur. Cantor fi-om Kedah oi- Perlis. 



LOFHURA RUFA (Raffles). 

 Lophura rula (Raffles); Ogilvie Grani, Cat. Birds Brit. J/?/-., xxii., 

 p. 286 (1893). 



The Fire-back Pheasant, though not uncommon in certain localities, 

 is not an easy bird to snare or shoot and the local museums are very 

 deficient in specimens. Two males, adult and immature, were secured 

 at Pelarit, Perlis, in Xovember, 1911, by our Dyak collectors. 



OSMOTREROX BICINCTA (Jerd.). 



Osmotreron bicincta (Jerd.) ; Salvaclori, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., 

 xxl, p. 57 (1898) ; BoUnson and Kloss, Ibis, 1910, p. 674. 



Out of several hundreds of the common 0. vernans shot by 

 Mr. Seimund during the 1910-12 seasons, three — two males and a 

 female — shot on 30th November, 1910, and 1st Febiuaiy, 1912, px-oved 

 to be of this species. Whether it comes south during the wintei' 

 months or is resident thi'oughout the year in the ]\[alay Peninsula 

 is not yet ascertained but all the specimens hitherto obtained have 

 been shot between November and Febi-uary. 



OSMOTRERON VERNANS (Lixx.) Vak. 



Osmotreron vernans (Linn.) ; Salvadori, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., 

 xxi., p. 60 (1893). 



Among a lai"ge number of this species shot in Taiping during the 



last two years are two specimens — a male from Kamunting, obtained 



on 13th June, 1911, presented by Mr. Gray, and a female from 



Simpang, dated 1st February, 1912, shot by Mr. Seimund — which show 



a variation not uncommon among the members of this sub-family 



(Treromnx) consisting of a defect of yellow pigment so that those 



portions of the plumage Avhich are normally yellowish green become 



greyish green or pearly grey. The o])posite variation in which 



there is an excess of yellow pigment so that the whole bird becomes 



more or less of a canary yellow colour is also not uncommon and 



specimens representing this phase have also been obtained near 



Taiping. 



RALLINA FASCIATA (Raffles). 



Rallina fasciata (Raffles) ; Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., xxiii., 



p. 75 (1894). 



Rails of these genus are by no means common in the Malay 

 Peninsula though possibly more numerous in the northern districts. 

 During a short stay at the end of October, 1911, at Alor Stah, the 

 capital of Kedah, which is surrounded by large areas of alluvial rice 

 lands, we found that this species was being hawked about the 

 streets in large numbers at a rate equivalent to two for a penny. 

 Sli""htly further north in Perlis it was also not uncommon in the rice 



