from the Island of Negros. 4!75 



Negros, the late Mr. Hargitt wrote to me on the subject of 

 the identity of the specimen of T. haryitti therein recorded. 

 In reply I sent him the specimen for examination, and he 

 wrote me as follows : — " I can quite imderstand you and 

 Mr. Harterf^ taking the bird to be T. hargitti, as it is 

 possible you thought the few white feathers which still exist 

 on either side of the lower part of the rump indicated that the 

 bird had had a white rump. This I do not regard as certain. 

 Upon turning down the white flank-feathers you will find 

 that almost the entire rump is bare of feathers ; these might 

 have been white, but they might also have been black ; there 

 is nothing whatever to show that they were not black, and 

 many examples of T. javensis have concealed white feathers 

 both on the lower back and on the rump, quite as pronounced 

 as in your specimen. What these concealed feathers mean 

 I am not quite sure of, as they occur in some specimens of 

 T. javensis and not in others from the same locality, 

 regardless of sex and age. 1 am unable to pronounce upon 

 your specimen with certainty. I have only seen one speci- 

 men from Negros, and this I regard as T. javensis, and it 

 is possible your bird may be the same. Now, admitting 

 that I am right in my identification of the British Museum 

 specimen, and that Steere's bird is really T. javensis, and ad- 

 mitting also that your bird has had a white rump, then Steere^s 

 theory is not satisfactory, and there would be no doubt that 

 two species inhabited the same island. But then another 

 difficulty arises. What would the white-rumped bird be ? 

 It would be either T. hargitti or T. philippinensis of Steere. 

 In my Catalogue of the Picidse in the British Museum I re- 

 corded two specimens of T. hargitti said to have come from 

 the Philippines. They were labelled 'Manilla,' but their exact 

 locality was a matter of doubt, though it appeared tolerably 

 certain that the species did occur in other islands than 

 Palawan. Mr. Steere, in his last expedition to the Philip- 

 pines, records a new species from Masbate andGuimaras; 

 this would appear to be distinct from the Palawan species. 



* 

 cation. 



Mr. Hartert had examined tlie specimen and confirmed my identifi- 

 m. 



