1886.J MR. R. B. SHARPE ON BIRDS FROM PERAK. 351 



to be regretted that Mr. Davison was never able, through political 

 obstacles, to rea(5h the mountains on the eastern side of the peninsula 

 and explore the high ridu;e or " backbone " which runs down its 

 entire length. Considerable speculation has been excited respecting 

 the fauna of these Malayan mountains, because all the collections 

 hitherto tnade in Malacca have proved that, as regards the birds, 

 there are very few species which are not common to Borneo, Sumatra, 

 and the Malayan peninsula. Sumatra, however, lias always enjoyed 

 a certain distinction from possessing at least one genus, Psilopogon, 

 peculiar to itself; and, again, in the mountains several Himalayan 

 genera have been fouud with species identical with, or only slightly 

 differing from, those which occur in the Eastern Himalayas and 

 extend down the mountains of Tenasserim. Many Malayan species 

 range into the southern portions of the last-named province ; but 

 as regards the Himalayan genera, such as Niltava, Liothrix, 

 Pnoepyga, Sibia, Sec, all traces of them are lost after leaving 

 Tenasserim until they turn up again in Sumatra. 



Many prognostications have been made that when the mountains 

 of the Malayan peninsula were explored, the above-named genera 

 and many others common to the mountains of Tenasserim and 

 Sumatra would be found to extend along the eastern side of Malacca ; 

 but of this the first actual proof has been furnished by Mr. L. VVray, 

 who has sent a small parcel of birds from the mountains of Perak to 

 the British Museum. Although so few in number, the revelations 

 which they disclose are of the greatest value, for they show that in 

 Perak, at least, and probably throughout tlie mountain-range, there 

 is a curious mixture of Himalayan and high-Sumatran forms. 

 Thus the Psilopogon, hitherto supposed to be a peculiar Suiuatraa 

 genus, is accompanied by lihinocichla mitrata {lanthocincla mitraf.a, 

 auct.), another species hitherto believed to be confined to Sumatra ; 

 and the Sibia is also the Suniairan 6'. similli.na, and not S. picata. 

 The affinities of the Perak species being therefore so markedly 

 Sumatran, it is not a little surprising to find that the Mesia is 

 M. orgentauris of the Himalayas, and not M. laurincB of Sumatra 

 as one would have expected. 



The following is a list of the specimens sent by Mr. Wray, who 

 informs lis that they were mostly obtained at au elevation of 3000 

 feet, and that his native collector, after an experience of 30 years' 

 work, had not met with some of the species before. 



Fam. MusciCAPiD.E. 



Niltava grandis, Hodgs. ; Sharpe, Cat. B. iv. p. 404. 



" No. 1 1. Male. Irides red ; legs and feet nearly black ; beak black. 

 The female is brown, with a blue spot on each shoulder and a patch 

 of ash under neck ; head blackish and slightly glossed with blue. 

 Specimens obtained at 4000 feet." 



Compared with males from Sikhim and Tenasserim in the Hume 

 Collection, and apparently identical in every respect. 



