wre 
16, 4 McGregor: Some Features of the Philippine Ornis 371 
Besides the preceding species, which: are found principally 
along the mud flats, several species of herons, rails, ducks, etc., 
inhabit the tidal streams and the marshland. 
Snipe are abundant in rice fields during the fall and afford 
excellent sport. The most abundant species is Gallinago megala 
Swinhoe, while about one in fifty will be either of the closely 
related species G. gallinago (Linnzus) and G. stenura (Bona-_ 
parte). The curious painted snipe, Rostratula capensis (Lin- 
nzus), appears to be a resident species; it is slow and heavy in 
flight and somewhat rare. 
Nearly all of these species of water birds have been recorded 
from one or more of the other large islands, and they may be 
expected to occur on any island whenever and wherever the 
time and the conditions are favorable. They are birds of pas- 
sage, some of them of cosmopolitan range, others with a wide 
range in the Eastern Hemisphere. They are interesting but are 
not characteristic elements of the fauna and so indicate nothing 
as to the relation of this ornis to others. 
BIRDS OF THICKETS AND GRASSLANDS 
The open grasslands that have replaced the original forest 
support plant species for the most part of wide distribution. 
These areas are inhabited by birds of comparatively wide dis- 
tribution, at least in the Philippine Islands. 
In grassland such as. exists in the area southeast of Manila 
and near Fort William McKinley one of the most characteristic 
birds is Pratincola caprata (Linnzeus). This species calls to 
mind the American lark bunting, Calamospiza melanocorys Stej- 
neger, in the black and white plumage of the male, in its haunts 
and habits, and in the fact that the sexes are very differently 
colored. Other species characteristic of grasslands are: Cisticola 
exilis (Vigors and Horsfield), a bird about the size of a bush tit 
and with a tail built on the same plan; Alauda wattersi Swinhoe, 
an oriental subspecies (?) of the skylark; Anthus rufulus Vieil- 
lot, somewhat similar to the North American Anthus rubescens 
(Tunstall) ; Mirafra philippinensis Ramsay, a thick-billed lark; 
Megalurus palustris Horsfield, a long-tailed, white, gray, and 
brown warbler the size of a chat; Megalurus tweeddalet Mc- 
Gregor, a smaller warbler; Excalfactoria lineata Scopoli, a small 
quaillike bird, the male of which has black and white markings 
on the head and the throat that are curiously suggestive of Lo- 
phortyx californica (Shaw) ; Caprimulgus manillensis Walden, a 
beautiful nightjar; Tachornis pallidior McGregor and species 
of Collocalia, small swifts that usually hunt over open land; 
