302 Dr. J. B. Steere — Philippine Ornithology. 



Turnix nigrescens, and Cinnyi'is jvgularis, were found nesting 

 in the fall and early winter months . The first three mentioned 

 apparently breed nearly all the year round. By February 

 the number of species nesting was considerably increased, 

 but the full tide of nesting w'as not reached until the months 

 of May and June, the number then decreasing through the 

 latter part of June and July much more I'apidly than it had 

 increased. 



The following is a list of the dates and the order in which 

 the islands were visited : — 



Paragua, August and September, 1887 ; Mindanao, Oc- 

 tober; Basilan, November ; Mindanao, again in December; 

 Guimaras, December; Panay, January, 1888; Negros and 

 Siquijor, February ; Cebu and Bojol, March ; Samar and 

 Leyte, April; Masbate and Marinduque, May; Mindoro, 

 June; Luzon, July, 1888. 



As island after island was reached and collected upon by 

 the party, the discovery was made that the Philippine group 

 is divided into several quite distinct zoological subdivisions, 

 which I have considered to be Sub-provinces, and have named 

 as follows : — (I.) the Sub-province of the North Philippines, 

 made up of Luzon and the small adjacent islands ; (II.) Min- 

 doro; (III.) Central Philippines, embracing the islands of 

 Panay, Negros, Guimaras, Cebu, and Masbate; (IV.) the 

 West Philippines — Paragua and Balabac; (V.) the South 

 Philippines — Mindanao and Basilan ; (VI.) the East Philip- 

 pines — Samar, Leyte, and probably Bojol. 



There are marks of still further differentiation within these 

 six divisions, notably in the instances of Cebu and Basilan. 



The differences in the birds of these Sub-provinces were so 

 great that a stay of a single day in an island was sufficient 

 to prove whether we had reached a new area or not. 



In May, after having visited the eastern islands of Samar 

 and Leyte, we stopped at the island of Masbate on our way 

 north, and immediately recognized its birds as being like 

 those of Panay and Negros, thus placing it in the division of 

 the Central Philippines which we had visited three months 

 before. 



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