A COLLECTION OF BIRDS FROM THE PROVINCES OF YUNNAN AND SZECHWAN, CHINA, MADE FOR THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY BY DR. JOSEPH F. ROCK By J, H. Riley Aid, Division of Birds, United States National Museum During explorations for the National Geographic Society in south-western China Dr. Joseph F. Rock, in connection with other collec-tions in natural history, took advantage of the opportunity to secure an excellent series of birds, which, upon his return, were presented with other material by the National Geographic Society to_ the United States National Museum. The collection is remarkably complete in that it includes skins of most of the larger forms which few collectors trouble to prepare, particularly when traveling under difficult conditions, as in the present case. The specimens received, all beautifully prepared by native workmen, are a distinct addition to the division of birds in that they constitute one of the largest accessions of recent years and that they represent an area from which we had practically no material previously. Among them are species hitherto unknown to science, as well as an excellent repre-sentation of birds described from previous expeditions and rare in nuiseums, since they are restricted in range to this area, a region difficult of access. Doctor Rock is to be complimented upon his energy and interest in procuring so excellent a representation. Doctor Rock began his ornithological work in Yunnan early in March, 1923, in the vicinity of Tengyueh, near the Burma border, and started northeast for the Likiang Snow Mountains, which were reached early in April. Here he worked in the mountains or sur-rounding plains until September, when he went northwest to the valley of the Mekong in northwestern Yunnan to collect during October and Novetober on various ranges of mountains between the Yangtze and Mekong. Most of these ranges are nearer the Mekong than they are to the Yangtze, except the Litiping Mountains, which form the divide between the two streams and are about midway between them, just north of where the Yangtze turns abruptly north No. 2654. — Proceedings U. S. National Museum, Vol. 70, Art. 5. 3039—26 1 1
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