2 78 STEERE, Distribution of Birds i>i the Philippines. |^ / 



A nU 

 lv 



List E. 



Melanopitta, 2. Megalurus, 2. Tanygnathus, 2. 



Criniger, 2. Cisticola, 2. 



Even here tliere 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. They usually differ 

 considerably in size or coloring, and in the case of Cisticola and 

 Megalurus, the only genera in which both of a pair of species 

 were observed, there was a sharp distinction of habitat noticed. 

 Cisticola cxilis inhabited the low, open, level rice fields of 

 Luzon, and Cisticola cisticola the wooded hills. Megahirits 

 r?t/iceps, where it occurred with M. palustris^ was found in the 

 waste places inland, which had grown up to high, 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 sordi- 

 dus is the common form found everywhere and always abundant, 

 while of M. steerii our party found but one specimen in Min- 

 danao in a six weeks' stay, and another in Samar. Tanygnathus 

 luconensis again is the common form found everywhere abun- 

 dantly, while but a single specimen of T. everettii was ever seen. 

 Our collections seem to show that Melanopitta sordida occurs 

 alone through most of the islands, but with M. steerii in Min- 

 danao and Samar ; also that the large Megalurus palustris alone 

 occupies the northern and western islands, the smaller species, 

 M. rnjiceps, the central islands, while the two species inhabit 

 Marinduque together. 



It seems probable that Melanopitta and Tanygnathus are 

 examples where two species of a genus, after having arisen in 

 different areas, have then been thrown together after they have 

 just come to differ too much to fuse, while they still remain 

 almost identical in habits and foods, and so are brought into such 

 conflict that the weaker species is disappearing. 



Putting Lists B and C together, there are one hundred and 

 twenty-eight genera out of one hundred and fifty, and two 

 hundred and twenty-eight species out of three hundred and 



