85 

 SOME BIRDS FROM PULO CONDORE. 



By H. C. Robinson and C. Boden Kloss. 



Mr. W. J. F. Williamson, who sent his collector to Pulo 

 Condore with Dr. Malcolm Smith's men in September 1919, has not 

 attained the success he deserved in investigating the avifauna of 

 the island, for the collector was, unfortunately, laid up with dysentery 

 for a week out of the 17 or 18 days he spent there. So the set of 

 specimens brought back was not as large, nor the exploration as 

 exhaustive, as it might have been. 



It is curious that more seems to have been learnt of the birds 

 of this little group of islands a century and a half ago than in more 

 recent times : Linnaeus recorded the Jungle-fowl as Phasianus 

 gallus in 1766; Gmelin described the Shama, Turdus macrourus ; 

 and Sparrman, the Roseate Tern, Larus polo-condore (better known 

 as Sterna dougalli Mont.), in 1788; while Dampier (1687), King 

 (1780), and Crawfurd and Finlayson (1822)* wrote of Parrots and 

 " Parakites ", Doves and Pigeons. 



If, therefore, I am correct in believing that the islands have 

 not received attention in later days, Mr. Williamson has added con- 

 siderably to our knowledge of its birds in spite of his ill-luck : 

 nevertheless there must still be, comparatively speaking, a good 

 many more to be met with and it is to be hoped that Mr. Williamson 

 may be able to send his collectors again to the island. 



The present collection was submitted to my colleague for 

 determination, but owing to press of work and illness Mr. Robinson 

 was unable to deal with more than half the species, among which he 

 distinguishes a new form of Mixornis rubricapilla. C.B.K. 



- 1. Muscadivora aenea subsp. ( ? ). 



Muscadivora aenea ? subsp. Hnrtett, Nov. Zool. XXV, 1918, 

 p. 346 ( Hainan ). 



1 9. "Iris red, bill green, feet red". Total length, 405. 

 Wing, 228 mm. 



The material available is not sufficient to determine the status 

 of this bird, which probably represents a subspecies as yet unnamed 



*Vide antea pp. 74, 75. 

 VOL. IV, NO. 2, 1920. 



