16, 4 McGregor: Some Features of the Philippine Ornis 373 
black; most of the head is smalt blue, slightly darker and with 
a faint violet cast on the throat and breast, fading gradually 
to white on abdomen, flanks, and under tail coverts; the wings 
and upper parts are darker to about azurite blue; even the bill, 
eyelids, legs, and feet are blue. This flycatcher sits very quietly 
on a twig and often is not noticed until it moves to another 
perch. Like Rhipidura nigritorquis this species is found in many 
parts of the Archipelago. 
Some of the other land birds that are more or less abundant 
in the vicinity of Manila, as well as throughout the Islands, and 
that inhabit open grassland, thickets, or second growth are: 
Osmotreron axillaris (Bonaparte). Lalage niger (Forster). 
Osmotreron vernans (Linnzus). Pycnonotus goiavier (Scopoli). 
Circus spilonotus Kaup. Petrophila manillensis (J. R. For- 
Circus melanoleucos (Pennant). ster). 
Butastur indicus (Gmelin). Artamus leucorynchus (Linnzus). 
Elanus hypoleucus Gould. Motacilla melanope Pallas. 
Ninox japonica (Temminck and Budytes leucostriatus Homeyer. 
Schlegel). Emberiza sulphurata Temminck and 
Tyto longimembris (Jerdon). Schlegel. 
Eurystomus orientalis (Linnzus). Padda oryzivora (Linneus). 
Merops americanus P.L.S. Miller. Oriolus acrorhynchus Vigors. 
Merops philippinus Linneus. Lamprocorax panayensis (Scopoli). 
Cacomantis merulinus (Scopoli). Sarcops calvus (Linnzus). 
Eudynamys mindanensis (Linnzus). 
The species enumerated so far are nearly all that can be found 
within several kilometers of Manila; there are doubtless a few 
more, but no effort has been made to record all of the species. 
Most of them are of wide distribution, at least within the Phil- 
ippines; and are to be found wherever the vegetation is similar 
to that about Manila. 
THE INTRODUCED ELEMENT OF THE PHILIPPINE FLORA *° 
In order to understand the distribution of the plants and the 
animals in the Philippine Islands and to search for and to collect 
specimens of the endemic species, it is necessary to realize that 
the areas now under cultivation or overgrown with grass and 
thickets were originally covered with forest. The casual visitor 
to the Philippines, even though he makes a fairly extended tour 
of the Islands, gets no idea of the forest. He sees vast areas 
covered with grass; fields of cultivated rice, sugar cane, corn, 
* Prof. E. D. Merrill and Dr. W. H. Brown have read my entire discus- 
sion of the Philippine flora and have made welcome corrections and sugges- 
tions; as a result I believe that this part of the paper is in reasonable 
agreement with our present knowledge of the Philippine vegetation. 
