Systematic and Faunistic remarks on Birds from Borneo and Java, with new records

In this paper I have collected notes on a number of birds from Java and Borneo, which have accumulated over the past seven years as a by-product of other studies rather than as a result of directed research in our collections. Ardea cinerea altirostris subspecies nova Diagnosis. — Similar in plumage to the pale race A. c. jouyi Clark of north-east Asia and Japan, but bill more massive: the bill is not always longer, but thicker and especially deeper (see table of measurements, and plate). Holotype, ♂, 12.III. 1918, Sedari, east of Tjitaroem delta, Reg. Krawang, West Java, leg. M. E. G. Bartels no. 11360, RMNH, Aves no. 28454. Distribution. — Java and Sumatra. Birds which have been found breeding on the west coast of Malaya, in Perak and Selangor (cf. Madoc, 1936: 129; Gibson-Hill, 1949: 21-22) are likely to belong to this subspecies, rather than to A. c. jouyi in which they were included by Vaurie (1965: 73). The subspecific status of the populations inhabiting south-east Asia from Burma to the Indo-Chinese countries, remains to be established. As in Cochinchina and Cambodja the species is found throughout the year (Delacour & Jabouille, 1931: 56), it probably breeds there, but I am not aware of definite breeding-records. In Thailand it is not known to breed (Kitti Thonglongya, pers. comm.). Very likely this race occurs on the Lesser Sunda Islands, from where there is a formal record (from Soembawa) by Rensch (1931: 496). Dammerman's (1926: 12) observations from Soemba are apparently not supported by material, but I see no reason to doubt them