458 Mr. W. R. Ogilvie Grant on the 



months' work in the island of Samar have apparently been 

 lost, owing to the destruction of the s.s. 'Weiland' by fii^e 

 off Singapore. 



Steamers running directly between the Philippine Islands 

 and London are comparatively few and far between, and the 

 ' Weiland/ belonging to a German firm of merchants, appears 

 to have been a somewhat cranky vessel, to which such a 

 valuable collection should not have been consigned; but 

 against this risk had to be considered the probable deteriora- 

 tion of specimens lying packed for months at Manila, and 

 exposed to danger from heat, damp, and insects. The 

 'Weiland^ had a cargo of hemp, and caught fire while 

 lying off Singapore, where she was undergoing some repairs, 

 her engines having broken down. Most of the cargo having 

 been removed, the ship was scuttled to put out the fire. 

 As no news has, up to the present time, been heard of the 

 case containing this collection, it seems probable that it was 

 really destroyed in the fire ; but as a quantity of the cargo 

 was certainty saved, and the packing-case in question was 

 one of the last put on board before the 'Weiland'' sailed 

 from Manila, there seems to be still some faint hope that 

 it has been merely mislaid at Singapore and may still find 

 its way to London. 



In a letter written from Manila on the 4th October, 1895, 

 Mr. Whitehead informed me of his return from Samar in 

 the middle of September, the wet season being then at its 

 height and most of the birds in full moult. The collection 

 made there contained examples of about 100 species, and from 

 the descriptions given some of them must, no doubt, have 

 been new. His letters contain interesting remarks about the 

 birds collected and notes on the colours of the soft parts in 

 almost every species, which makes the loss of the collection 

 the more to be deplored, as these particulars are now rendered 

 practically useless. At the present time Mr. Whitehead is 

 once more in the island of Samar, having returned there 

 towards the end of May of the present year with a view to 

 making good the lost collection, though it is likely enough 

 that some of the species previously obtained may not be met 



