A Note on the Charadriiformes listed for Sumatra by Robinson & Kloss, 1918 and 1923

In a paper on some birds from Sumatra in the Leiden Museum Dr. Junge (1948, pp. 314-15) lists two males of Limosa lapponica baueri Naum. taken by Mr. Van Heurn on the beach at Tandjong Tiram in the Deli district on 14 November 1921. In a short discussion on this record he refers to the fact that Vorderman (1890, p. 416) gives this species as probably occurring in Sumatra, and subsequently Robinson & Kloss (1923, p. 326) and Chasen (1935, p. 37) list it without query or comment. Dr. Junge adds that he failed to find the reference on which the later authors decided that the bird was definitely known from Sumatra. It is probable that no such reference exists and that Dr. Junge's paper constitutes the first authentic published record of the occurrence there of the Eastern Bartailed Godwit. The point at issue is a general one which has puzzled other workers in this field, and it would seem to be of interest to outline the situation briefly. Robinson & Kloss published two lists of the birds of Sumatra, the first in 1918, containing 527 birds, and the second in 1923, giving 574 birds. In a note to their first list the authors (1918, p. 284) make the following comment on their treatment of the "Charadrii formes" (= Suborder Charadrii), "In this group Vorderman records with certainty only 14 species that are found on the mud-flats of the Strait of Malacca with one or two exceptions". It is clear that by mud-flats of the Strait of Malacca they mean the flats on the eastern (Malay Peninsula) side of the strait. They disallow 3 of the birds given by Vorderman, but make their own total up to 30. At that time they had apparently no reliable Sumatran records for the great majority of the 19 species which they thus added to the Sumatran list. The same procedure was followed in compiling the second list, published in 1923,