96 Viscount Walden and Mr. Layard on 



with sharks. Up one of these rivers Mr. L. Layard proceeded 

 on one excursion. " We went about 40 miles down the coast 

 in the little steamer to a place called Ponte Vedra. Next 

 morning early we got a ' dug-out ' and went up the river. It 

 was very lovely, with huge trees drooping down to the water's 

 edge on each side, but very lonely, as there were hardly any 

 birds and no buttei-flies, only a few of the red and blue and 

 blue and white Kinghunters [Halcyon gularis and H. chloris), 

 and some Kingfishers about, a Dove or two flying overhead, 

 and half a dozen Anhingas [Plotus melanog aster) in the water. 

 We went out shooting in the afternoon ; but it was cold 

 and rainy, and we did not see half we ought to have seen 

 in the river-bush. I shot two large white Cockatoos and some 

 Doves, also a lizard, 3 feet long, with a sort of large fin on the 

 root of his tail [Hydrosawms ?)*. The Cockatoos have bright red 

 eyes, red feathers under the tail, and yellowish under the wing." 



No specimens of this Parrot were preserved ; but were it 

 not for the expression " large " we should not hesitate to identify 

 the bird with Cacatua Jmmaturopygia (MiiIl.) = P5. philippi- 

 narum, Gm. No other known species agrees with the above 

 description, and no other Cockatoo has been described as an in- 

 habitant of the Philippines. But the exact habitat of the true C. 

 philippinarum itself has never been accurately determined ; for 

 that bird does not appear to have been seen wild by any trust- 

 worthy traveller. It is therefore to be regretted that we are un- 

 able to identify with absolute certainty the bird referred to by 

 Mr. L. Layard. It is, however, probable that the term "large" 

 was not used comparatively, and that in the Island of Negros we 

 have at length discovered one point in the archipelago where 

 C. p)hilippinarum, is indigenous. 



In another of his notes Mr. L. Layard alludes to his bathing 

 in the river, and mentions that " the Bee-eaters have a beautiful 

 scarlet patch on the head ; they frequent a bamboo clump, and 

 sit on the lateral branches while I swim beneath ; so I get a good 

 view of them." No examples were secured, and we are unable 

 to identify the bird. Mr. L. Layard, from African experience, 



* [This may be H. twckalis, described by Dr. Giinther in P. Z. S. for 

 February last, which we have some reason to believe may liave come from 

 Negros. — Ed.] 



