THE BIRDS OF SOUTH-WEST AND PENINSULAR SUM. 11 



while we added the reptilian genus, Tro2')idophoru.<^, a scink of 

 semi-aquatic habits, to the fauna of the Malay Peninsula. 



After exhausting the possibilities of this place we moved on to 

 Chumpon, encountering the same difficulties about transport as we had 

 from Tasan, but this time in an accentuated degree, as the distance to 

 be traversed was greater and, as before, we had to use two detach- 

 ments. 



We ourselves and most of our men walked, and though the 

 distance, 22 miles, was comparatively trifling, we all agreed that we 

 had seldom undertaken a more trying march. The first few miles, 

 through open and semi-deciducus forest in the early part of the day, 

 was pleasant enough, but the last twelve or thirteen miles was through 

 open country, utterly without shade, over a somewhat sandy road, in a 

 temperature that approached, if it did not exceed, 100° F. We were 

 never more delighted than when we saw in the distance the big iron 

 girder bridge that carries the railway over the Chumpon river. We 

 arrived at the Chumpon rest-house utterly exhausted. 



Chumpon. 



Chumpon is a considerable town, the head-quarters of a pro- 

 vince and the seat of a Governor. It is situated in the middle of a 

 large plain with some low, lalang-covered hills to the north and about 

 5-6 miles from the sea. The population in the vicinity, which is 

 pure Siamese unmixed with Malay, appears fairly dense and is 

 devoted to the cultivation of rice. As everywhere in Siam, a 

 large proportion of the pett}' traders are Chinese or Indian, and there 

 are a good many Chinese fishermen at the river mouth. 



We remained here two or three days, sending back such of 

 the collections, as were dry, to Kuala Lumpur in charge of one of 

 the men who had fallen sick. 



We also called on the Governor and made arrangements 

 through him for our accommodation at Koh Lak, a sea-side place 

 some 100 miles to the north, which was to be our next collecting 

 station. We did no collecting at Chumpon, but through the kind- 

 ness of Mr. Daniels, the Section Engineer, who was very hospitable 

 to us, we obtained the remains of a bare, which registers the 

 southernmost limit of Lej)us simnensis. 



VOL. V, NO. 1, 1921. 



