1875.] ON THE BIEDS INHABITING THE PHILIPPINE AECHIPELAGO. 293 



A List of the Birds hnoivn to inhabit the Philippine Archipelago. By Aethur, Viscount Walden, Tr. z. s. ix. 

 F.E.S., President of the Society. [From the 'Transactions of the Zoological Society,' ^' 

 vol. ix. part, ii., April 1875, Plates XXllI.-XXXIV. in. or}(j:\ (Read June 3, 1873.) 



In the month of December 1871 and the first three months of the following year some of the 

 principal islands of the Philippine archipelago were visited by Dr. A. Bernhard Meyer, the well- 

 known German naturalist. During that short period this indefatigable collector obtained a 

 large series of ornithological specimens, representing ninety-six species. The islands visited by 

 him were Luzon, Negros, Zebu, Cujo, and Guimaras, the last being a small island adjoining the 

 southern coast of Panay, and lying in the channel which separates Panay from Negros. 

 Hitherto most of the authentic so-called Philippine specimens of birds contained in European 

 collections have been procured in Luzon, collected at no very great distance from the town of 

 Manilla, its capital ; and nearly all the zoological travellers who have visited the Philippines 

 have confined their researches to the vicinity of that town. It follows, consequently, that " the 

 Philippines," so frequently occurring as a geographical expression in our lists, from the days of 

 Brisson to the recent date of Mr. G. P. Gray's ' Hand-list,' must be taken to mean the country 

 adjacent to the town of Manilla. To this rule Sonnerat is an exception. 



After residing at Manilla, and forming collections in the interior of Luzon, Sonnerat visited 

 Antigua, the capital of the island of Panay, and then Zamboanga, the chief Spanish settlement 

 in the large island of Mindanao. Panay does not seem to have been revisited by any orni- 

 thologist*; but in 1839, D'Urville's second expedition in the 'Astrolabe' remained two months 

 at Zamboanga, and obtained a few zoological specimens. 



It is possible that the late Mr. Hugh Cuming may have visited all these localities and many 

 others during his long residence in the Philippines ; but as his large collection of birds was 

 broken up without being catalogued, and as they were brought to Europe at a time when 

 geographical distribution attracted less attention than now, we possess no published record of 

 the exact localities where his specimens were obtained f- 



After Sonnerat fifty-eight years appear to have elapsed before the Philippines were again 

 visited by an ornithologist, when in 1829 Kittlitz touched at Manilla, and there procured several Tr.Z. S. ix. 

 undescribed species. Since that date Manilla has been visited from time to time by different ^'' "" ' 

 travellers and expioring-expeditions, and new species have been obtained, which on being brought 

 to Europe have been described and named J. In 1871 new ground was broken by Mr. L. C. 



* At least there does not appear to be any published record of Panay having been again visited, although Mr. 

 Cassin (U.S. Expl. Exped. p. 143) certainly enumerates an example of Ireaa cyanogastra as having been obtained in this 

 island. 



t A large portion of his ornithological collection vfas made in the southern part of the island of Luzon ((/. P. Z. S. 

 1839, p. 93) ; but it has since become scattered, and the origin of many of the individual specimens cannot now bo 

 identified. 



X For a full account of the principal ornithological collectors in the Philippines, </. Dr. v. Martens, Journ. f. Orn. 

 1866, p. 5. 



2 Q 



