collected in the Philippine Islands. 217 



songster; the song is short and is heard chiefly towards the 

 break and close of day. B. poliogyna also occurs in the 

 liighlands of Mindoro and was obtained in the thick forests 

 at 6000 feet. 



Iris and bill black ; feet dark brown. 



105. Brachypteryx urunneiceps Grantj Ibis, 1896, 

 p. 547. 



This is theNegros form of the last species, the males differing 

 slightly, but the females are sufRciently distinct from Luzon 

 and Mindoro specimens. The Negros Shortwing was met with 

 on the great active volcano of Canloon, inhabiting the forest 

 just below the bare cone. There were several birds in the 

 vicinity of our camp, but we never succeeded in shooting one, 

 though we started daily in pursuit of them, as they were 

 singing every few hours, beside the small rivulets which flow 

 from the sides of the mountain. To shoot a Brachypteryx 

 we found to be no easy matter, and many a time has the writer 

 unsuccessfully tracked the little songster through the under- 

 growth, the dark colour of the birds making them quite 

 invisible in the forest-shade. Though the Philippine Bra- 

 chypteryx is notable for its extreme shyness, the Borneau 

 species was especially remarkable for its tameuess, hopping 

 about one^s very feet. 



Iris dark brown ; bill and feet black. 



106. Chimarrhornis bicolor Grant, Ibis, 1894, p. 509, 

 pi. XV. fig. 2 ; 1895, p. 446. 



Our first specimen was obtained among some huge 

 boulders in a mountain-torrent in Benguet. I remember the 

 morning well ; the sun had barely risen, my tyro of a col- 

 lector — one Sebastian — had started off in front of me down 

 stream, when bang went his gun and three small birds came 

 flying over the big boulders up stream. I merely remarked 

 to myself, ^''That ass Sebastian again ! '^ and went on to the 

 pine-forests alone. In the afternoon Sebastian brought in this 

 beautiful Water-Redstart, but it was shot in the back so that I 

 could not ascertain the sex. We obtained no more speci- 

 mens until the highlands of Lepanto were reached, where, at 



SER. VII. — VOL. v. Q 



