47 



MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 



-V No. I. Note on Siamese Pheasants 



The British Museum has recently received from Mr. K. G. 

 Gairdner four most interesting skins from Siam. 



The first of these is a beautiful specimen of Phasianus ~ 

 humiae burmanicus from the hills of northern Siam, shot at an 

 elevation of about 6000 feet. This is a great extension of this fine 

 pheasant's hitherto recorded range and adds yet another Game Bird 

 to the Siamese list. 



The other three skins are those oiGennaeus lineatus aud must - 

 I think for the present be retained under typical Gennaeus I. line- 

 atus until we get further skins to endorse or refute the value of the 

 differences shown by these specimens. 



Of the three skins two are those of males, one fine old bird, 

 the other a male just having attained adult plumage ; they were 

 both shot on the Me Ping rapids half way between Chiengmai and 

 Raheng ; the third, which is a female, was shot near Raheng at a 

 height of 1500 feet. 



Raheng is a good long way north and east of the nearest 

 point at which true lineatus has yet been found and it is not 

 ■ surprising to find that the skins show some remarkable points not 

 wholly consistent with their being this bird. 



The young male might be a typical lineatus from Pegu, 

 except that its central tail feathers somewhat approach the more 

 northern forms. The old bird however is very big with a much 

 fuller bigger crest than lineatus usually indulges in, and with a tail 

 of no less than 390 mm., which also approaches sharpei in general 

 appearance. 



The female is like that of lineatus but approaching some- 

 what to that of rufipes and not that of sharpei, the which, as far 

 as we know at present, has always a dark under-surface with the 

 feathers streaked not barred as in this specimen. 



It will be very interesting to obtain more specimens, for it 

 seems as if we might have here a new race combining features of 

 G. 1. lineatus, G. 1. rufipes and G. I. sharpei. 



E. C. Stuart Baker 

 British Museum, Dec, 14. 1919. 



r No. II. Notes on Early Snipe. 



I am indebted to Mr. E. Chappie for most of the birds upon 

 which the following notes are based. 



The first snipe of the season (1919) was shot by Major 

 Forty on the 29th August. 



VOL. IV. NO. 1, 1920. 



