402 Philippine Journal of Science 1920 
carp forest, a type of Schimper’s tropical rain forest, characteristic of 
the lowlands in the Philippines and in many other parts of the Indo- 
Malayan region. This forest consists of three stories of trees, each 
composed of different species. The first, or tallest, story is dominated 
by members of the family Dipterocarpaceez. At middle elevations the 
forest consists of two stories composed of different tree species. At the 
top of the mountain there is only one story of trees. These trees are 
dwarfed and very peculiarly shaped and are thickly covered with mosses 
and mosslike plants. Mossy forests are frequently found on high moun- 
tains in the Philippines and elsewhere in the tropics. 
The ground covering in the dipterocarp forest is composed largely of 
tree seedlings and, at higher elevations, of herbaceous plants. 
The epiphytes in the dipterocarp forest are largely phanerogams and 
are confined chiefly to the largest branches of the tallest trees. At 
middle elevations epiphytes are more numerous and cryptogams are more 
conspicuous. Mosses and liverworts may form a thin covering over a 
considerable portion of the trunks of trees. The greatest development 
of epiphytes is at the top of the mountain in the mossy forest, where the 
lower branches and the trunks of the trees are thickly covered with mosses 
and mosslike plants, in which grow a number of larger plants, including 
phanerogams. On the smaller branches epiphytes are also numerous, but 
less so than on the trunks. 
BIRDS OF THE HIGHLANDS 
Highlands is used here as a loose term to designate the 
mountainous regions above 1,200 meters’ altitude. The land 
birds so far mentioned are found in cleared areas, in second 
growth, in grasslands, and in lowland forest. There remains 
to be said something of the change in the avian fauna with 
change in elevation. In northern Luzon there is a large area 
having a general elevation of from 1,200 to 1,600 meters and 
many parts are much higher than this. The highest point 
in Luzon is believed to be the summit of Mount Pulog, which 
is 2,880 meters (9,480 feet) in altitude.*® The flora of most of 
this region is characterized by open, parklike forests of Pinus 
insularis; except as scattered individuals this species does not 
grow below about 1,200 meters. Above 2,200 meters, espe- 
cially on ridges and the summits of peaks, the pine gives way 
to a mossy forest. 
Several of the other large islands present almost the same 
changes in vegetation with increase in altitude as those described 
for northern Luzon, but only one other island of this Archi- 
pelago, Mindoro, yields trees of the genus Pinus. 
Before John Whitehead made his first trip into Benguet Prov- 
ince, nothing was known of the highland fauna. It is true that 
“See Merrill, E. D., and Merritt, M. L., Philip. Journ. Sci. § C 5 
(1910) 290. 
