INTRODUCTION. 
II. ARRANGEMENT, ETC. 
The Order is that of Sharpe's "Handlist’ 1 adapted in a few places 
in accordance with the views of some workers on various groups such 
as those of Dr. P. R. Lowe based on his investigations on the waders, 
although in this case the result is not very obvious as the present 
handlist deals only with formations below the rank of Family. Some 
other, but minor, adjustments have also been made, when 1 have 
felt convinced that they could be justfied. Muscitrea, for instance, 
is transferred to the Laniidce and merged in Pachycepkala. A 
number of other changes recently proposed have not been accepted 
as they seem based on very superficial grounds and, to my mind, 
represent change rather than progress. Most ornithologists are aware 
that some genera and species are probably misplaced in the "Hand- 
list", especially among the Pycnonotidce, Thnaliidce and Turdidce 
but until the anatomy of these anomalous forms has been critically 
and comparatively examined I can appreciate no reason for disturbing 
an established order. Cases in point are Chalcoparia, AEgithina and 
Irena. 
The Synonymy is purely regional. I have tried to make it as 
complete as possible but the library in Singapore is incomplete and 
I have had to get many references and type-localities from Europe. 
The majority of the references have been checked in the original 
publication, but some from a secondary source, in which latter case 
an attempt has been made to avoid the works of mere copyists. I 
expect, however, that this synonymy will prove to be a weak point 
in my work. A number of nomina nuda have been excluded as 
they seem never to have crept into literature. 
Distribution. — The localities are arranged in four rows corres- 
ponding with the Malayan, Sumatran, Bornean and Javan Provinces 
as defined above. Continental distribution is indicated in three ways. 
Peninsular Siam implies the northern part of the Malay Peninsula 
down to about Lat. 6° N. Malay States means roughly, the southern 
half of the Peninsula : it is the area of British influence and includes 
the Unfederated Malay States, the Federated Malay States and the 
Straits Settlements of Penang, Malacca and Singapore. Malay 
Peninsula includes both the above divisions. 
Literature. — The references given in the footnotes are, naturally, 
not complete but basic, or suggestive, and can be added to those 
given by Peters. Although at times they may seem, at first glance, 
relatively unimportant, it will be found, usually, that they contain, 
or lead to, the essential literature on the group. 
The Asterisk indicates that topotypes of the race have not been 
examined. In the great majority of cases these races have therefore 
been accepted. They are mostly based on islands off the west coast 
of Sumatra (excluding the Mentawi Islands) and Banka, 
xv 
