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SOME BTRDS OF SINGAPORE. 

 By 

 Major H. R. Baker, 73rd O.I. 

 The following list has no pretension to completeness. It comprises only 

 those birds which I myself noticed or shot during my few leisure hours, in 

 addition to the names of a few " cribbed" from the local museum where 

 the specimens are labelled as having been obtained on the island, but which I 

 did not secure or notice myself. Doubtless numerous other species escaped 

 my notice in the almost impenetrable jungles and dangerous swamps. For 

 those unacquainted with Singapore I may mention that the island is some 28 

 miles broad from east to west and 14 miles from north to south and is 

 separated from the mainland by the narrow Straits of Johore. 



The island, for collecting purposes, may be divided into three parts : — 

 (a) The jungle, which is in most places impenetrable. 

 (J) The clearings, usually on vising ground, which are either planted with 

 cocoanuts or pineapples, or are formed into gardens by the Chinese, 

 (c) The swamps, which are mostly too dangerous to venture into. 

 The climate is damp and muggy, due to the amount of rain which falls at 

 all times of the year ; this of course accounts for the extraordinary greenness 

 of the whole island, and this in turn accounts for the great difficulty expe- 

 rienced in finding any but the commonest birds' nests, unless by a fluke ; 

 there is so much and so thick shrubbery and undergrowth that egg-collecting is 

 an almost hopeless task. Where possible in the following list I have taken 

 the numbers from the " Fauna of British India ", otherwise from the 

 Catalogue of the British Museum. 



4. Corvus macrorhynchus. — The Jungle Crow. 

 Strange as it may seem to a resident in India, this bird is not an inhabitant 

 here. During my four years' stay in Singapore, I only saw one solitary in- 

 dividual and that must have been a straggler all the way from Penang, where I 

 believe some birds were introduced from India years ago. 

 160. Turdinus abbotti. — Abbott's Babbler. 

 Common but shy and retiring ; its note is frequently heard in the dense under- 

 growth, but the bird itself is not often seen. I found it breeding during March 

 and April ; nest cup-shaped, of dry leaves and twigs, placed near the ground 

 in a low bush. The eggs were pinky-white, even after being blown, and were 

 spotted and clouded with pinkish-brown : their average length '88", breadth 'fi2". 

 177. Mixornis GULARis. — The Sumatran Yellow-breasted Babbler. 

 This small babbler is fairly common in gardens and clearings. 



243. iEGiTHiNA tiphia. — The Common Iora. 

 Very common everywhere. 



298. Pycnonotos analis. — The Yellow- vented Bulbul. 

 One of the commonest birds on the island ; breeds from March to May or 

 June ; nest of the usual bulbul type, ditto the eggs. This bird has a very 

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