6 
" Handlist of the birds of Borneo " but his names are not very apt and as there is 
no obligation to accept priority in such matters the names used above are suggested 
as substitutes in the hope that they will l>econie familiar to residents and officials 
in North Borneo and perhaps stay iu the minds of those who have little taste for 
" technical names 
If the valid technical names of the swiftlets are to be mentioned at all, the 
modern trinoiuinal system of nomenclature cannot be avoided. Formerly when- 
ever a bird was foxuid to be unlike all other known kinds of bird it was considered 
to be a " new species " and, upon it, a new specific name was bestowed. It is now 
recognised that many of the old **species" can be linked up and that they are only 
slightly altered geographical races of a widely spread "kind" of bird. Their 
original "specific*' names are therefore reduced to "subspecific" or racial names of 
the first name applied to any member of the species and thus the trinominal 
system of nomenclature came into existence. 
The vSystem can be illustrated in detail by one of the swiftlets. The small 
kind with white abdomen, common in Borneo, is often referred to as C. Itjichi but 
this is quite wrong: ^mc/n is a name originally applied to a specimen from Java 
and birds from Java and Borneo are quite different. They are, in fact, Iwth only 
geographical races of a widely spread species ranging from the Andamans and 
Nieobars throughout Malaysia and east to New Guinea, New" Caledonia and the 
New Hebrides. No fewer than fifteen races or subspecies of this bird are 
recognised. The first name applied to any one of them is escidenta of Linne 
who thus indicated the bird occurring in the Mohiccas. All the races then 
liecome subspecies of escidenta and in Malaysia occur : — 
C. escidenta cyanoptila — Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Borneo. 
G. e. dodgei ,„ Kina Balu 
C. e, linchi Java. 
C. e, mitalls .„ Christmas Island. ] 
It is undisputed that sound systematic work is an essential preliminary to any 
biological economic investigation. 
Sufficient has already been indicated above for most practical purposes but 
more birds must be examined from Berhala, other isolated colonies in the Sandakan 
Eesidency and a fairly extensive collection from the East Coast caves before it can 
be considered that we have anything like a complete understanding of the identity 
of the birds themselves. These collections could be made by a< subordinate officer 
of the Forestry Department after a few weeks tuition in field-collecting and 
taxidermy. Such tuition could probably be obtained with the assistance of the 
Director of Museums, 8. S. and F. M. S. 
Correctly identified specimens of each species should then l)e mounted, and 
together with their nests placed on permanent exhibition in the Museum at 
Sandakan. They could then be regarded as a i>ermanent reference. 
