XXII. 



Of tLe large* earnivora, members of the party met with bears and 

 black leopards, but no tigers were seen or heard, possibly, because there 

 was nothing- for them to live on ; at the mouth of the Tahan and also 

 at Kuala Tembeling they were very numerous. 



Birds.— -Up to about 3,000 ft. birds were very scarce in indivi- 

 duals, though numerous in species * while above that limit the contrary 

 was the case and probably over 90 per cent, of the individuals seen 

 belonged to four or five species. 



Of the 175 species of which specimens were collected Mr. Ogilvie- 

 Grant has described seven species as new, but I do not think that 

 any of them will ultimately prove to be peculiar to Gunong Tahan. 



Only two species, Gecinus robinsoni and Zosterops tahanensis, have 

 not been procured within the last year' or so on the mountains of the 

 Selangor main range, distant as the crow flies about seventy or eighty 

 miles from Gunong Tahan. Of the novelties collected by Mr. Water- 

 stradt, only one Suya waterstradti has not been procured elsewhere, 

 and, in my opinion, this is the only species at all likely to be confined 

 to Gunong Tahan. Very few birds were seen but not procured on 

 mount Tahan. A swiftlet (Gollocalid) was very abundant on one or 

 two occasions, and I once noted what I thought was a crag martin. A 

 few large eagles were seen, but, as is almost invariably the case in large 

 jungle, it was impossible to obtain them, though one pair of a species of 

 Spizaetus came within range. The other species noted was Neopus 

 malayensis and possibly Lophotriorchus hieneri. Argus pheasants 

 and wood quail (llollulus roulroul) were very abundant on the lower 

 slopes and formed a welcome change of menu, as they were very easily 

 trapped. The larger hornbills were scarce, and the imperial pigeon, 

 usually so abundant on the high mountains throughout the Peninsula, 

 was not met with once. 



Eeptilia. — Reptiles of all orders were very scarce on the mountain, 

 all the lizards being quite rare ; while the only snake that could be called 

 common was Psammodynastes pulverulentus f which, as noted elsewhere 

 (pod p. 69), was much dreaded by the natives. No species of tortoise 

 was seen, though we were all on the look-out for them, as I was specially 

 anxious to obtain, additional specimens of the hill tortoise (Testudo 

 pscudemys), described from specimens obtained some years ago in the 

 Batang Padang mountains, South Perak. 



The occurrence of Calotes microlepis, so far down the Peninsula, is 

 interesting as showing an affinity between the fauna of Gunong Tahan 

 and the Tenasserim hill ranges, which is borne out by the Gecinus, a 

 species allied to G. occipitalis, which also occurs in Tenasserim. The 

 waters of the Tahan and Upper Tembeling are too rapid for crocodiles 

 and no species, not even the gavial, occurs in them. Even in the Pahang 

 River, though there are many deep and still pools suitable for them, they 

 are decidedly rare. Upstream, from Kuala Semantan, human beings are 

 practically never attacked by them, and, though I made careful enquiry 

 at Kuala Tembeling, I never heard of a case. 



