226 Journal of the F.M.S Museums. [Vol. X, 



heterogeneous species excluding eiich other geographically. 

 In spite of the broad zone of separation andamanensis and 

 macrorhynchus liave remained very similar — so similar 

 that the majority of modern ornithologists declare them 

 to be identical." 



Dr. Stresemann could be accused of manipulating 

 literature to fit a theory. In stating that no examples of 

 covonoides seem aviiilable from the northern part of the 

 Malay Peninsula he ignores our record of specimens from 

 Trang, etc., where it was very abundant. In stating that 

 it does not occur in the southern half of the Peninsula he 

 ignores our next remark. " In the southern half of the 

 Peninsula it is scarcer being only seen in numbers on the 

 coast in the vicinity of fishing villages." This last does 

 away with his " broken land bridge " theory ! 



And when he wrote " From Perak to Johor the Slender- 

 billed Crow, Corvus enca occurs, but is rare, etc." and 

 suggests (as I understand), that we have transferred the 

 names of two species he stultifies himself — for if he believes 

 that our enca of the Southern Malay Peninsula is coronoides 

 he himself builds a bridge which he later demolishes. 



There is no break in distribution — as far as the Penin- 

 sula is concerned. 



Why is our opinion astonishing that (lorvus enca is rare 

 in the Malay States ? It is based on the experience of good 

 many years : rather there is ground for astonishment that 

 in probably little more than as many days in the counti*y 

 Dr. Stresemann found it, by inference, common. 



As to Borneo and Sumatra Dr. Stresemann makes the 

 same suggestion regarding the birds determined by Finsch 

 and Stone as he does about our identification. Personally 

 1 have only seen examples of C. enca from these two islands, 

 but it seems to me that, for the present, negative evidence 

 is little better than no evidence. 



I'he conclusion arrived at by Dr. Stresemann's methods 

 is that only one form of C. coronoides, viz., andamanensis, 

 occurs in the Malay Peninsula, and that the species (apart 

 from its occurrence at Penang), may extend from Burma 

 to the northern part of the Peninsula only. Also that 

 Corvus enca compilator is the common form. 



I will now proceed to give some account of the 

 Malaysian specimens of Crows at present in the F.M.S. 

 Museimis and, as no instructions have ever been given to 

 our collectors to discriminate betN\ een the two species when 

 procuring examples, it may be taken that the numbers 

 secured fairly represent the rarity or commonness of the 

 two birds. They show that as far as our experience goes 

 we can repeat our former statement that coronoides is the 

 commoner bn-d and in some form occurs tliroughout the 

 Malay Peninsula. 



