418 Prof. J. B. Stccre on the Distribution of 



H. gularis being found in open plains feeding from the 

 ground^ or perched in low trees ; H. coromanda in low thick 

 undergrowth in forests; and H. chloris usually near the 

 sea-beach and often in open coco-groves about the coast 

 villages. 



The maroon-backed Osmotreron is arboreal, feeding in the 

 high trees in flocks. Osmotreron vernans, on the other hand, 

 inhabits thickets, where it feeds from the bushes or the grovmd, 

 and is found singly or in pairs. 



There remain 5 genera and 10 species in which two species 

 of the same genus were found existing together in the same 

 islands, these not differing enough to appear to warrant 

 placing them in distinct sections of the genus. These genera, 

 with the number of species of each found in the islands, are 

 the following (List E) : — 



Melanopitta 2. Cisticola 2. 



Criniger 2. Tauygnathus 2. 



Megalurus 2. 



Even here there seems to be no case in which the two 

 species of the same genus found existing together are so 

 closely allied that they may be supposed to have been derived 

 from a common form in the area in which they now occur. 

 Thev usually differ considerably in size or colouring, and in 

 the case of Cisticola and Megalurus, the only genera in which 

 botli of a pair of species were observed, there was a sharp 

 distinction of habitat noticed. Cisticola exilis inhabited the 

 low, open, level rice-fields of Luzon, and C. cisticola the 

 wooded hills. Megalurus ruficeps, where it occurred with 

 M. jjalusti'is, was found inland in waste places which had 

 become overgrown with coarse grass, while M. palustris was 

 found close along the beach in open grassy places. 



The relative abundance of the two species is worth noting 

 in the case of Melanopitta and Tanygnathus. Melanopitta 

 sordida is the common form found everywhere and always 

 abundant, while of M. steerii our party procured but one 

 specimen in Mindanao in a six weeks' stay, and another in 

 Samar. Tanygnathus luconensis, again, is the common form 

 found everywhere abundantly, while but a single specimen of 

 T. everetiii was ever seen. Our collections seem to show that 



