16,4 McGregor: Some Features of the Philippine Ornis 397 
of such a tree at Brooke’s Point, Palawan, in the following 
words: 
At times I have seen parrots, cockatoos, leafbirds, nuthatches, chick- 
adees, woodpeckers, orioles, flowerpeckers, sunbirds of various kinds, 
spider-hunters, pigeons, and starlings, all in this tree at once, while in 
nearby foliage were cuckoos, fairy bluebirds, flycatchers, minivets, thrushes, 
tailorbirds, bulbuls, and the like. The clamor was indescribable, and the 
conglomeration of assorted colors exhibited by the assemblage and set off 
by the brilliant blossoms of the tree was most striking and yet harmonious. 
Some species of Ficus are favorite feeding resorts for doves, 
parrots, flowerpeckers, sunbirds, etc. Sunbirds and the cola- 
Sisis (Loriculus) are usually more or less abundant in coconut 
groves. I found 4’thopyga shelleyi Sharpe in abundance on 
some flowering trees in a mangrove swamp near Puerto Prin- 
cesa, Palawan. The imperial pigeons (Muscadivores) are very 
fond of the fruit of certain species of fig trees. In Biliran, a lone 
buri palm, standing near the beach, was loaded with fruit and 
was regularly visited by crows and imperial pigeons. Merrill’s 
fruit pigeon, Leucotreron (Neoleucotreron) merrilli McGregor, 
was collected in Laguna Province only when it was feeding on 
the small fruits of Symplocos ahernit Brand. By waiting be- 
neath these trees we could see the pigeons as they moved about 
in feeding; at other times it was impossible to detect them among 
the leaves. In Polillo a parrot (Tanygnathus freeri McGregor) 
fed on the fruit of Artocarpus camansi Blanco and of Dillenia 
philippinensis Rolfe. In the same island Penelopides subnigra 
McGregor was often found feeding on the fruit of Dysoxylum 
altissimum Merrill and of a species of Ficus. 
The pittas are short-tailed, plump birds with bright-colored 
plumage. Their well-developed legs enable them to hop about 
beneath the forest undergrowth and in thickets where they some- 
times make considerable noise in scratching among dry leaves. 
Nevertheless all of the pittas are shy birds, and although gor- 
geously colored they are among the birds requiring the greatest 
skill and patience on the part of the collector. 
The pufaladas, or blood-breasted pigeons (Phleganas vel 
Gallicolumba), are usually seen walking quietly along a forest 
trail or hastening across a small opening, but they are very 
nervous and take flight at the least suspicious noise or move- 
ment and are by no means easy to get sight of. 
Several types of kingfishers inhabit the forest. They are all 
beautifully colored, but they seem to have been influenced by 
their habitat for they are usually silent and retiring. It does 
not seem possible that they are related to the noisy, impudent, 
and conspicuous species of the open country. 
