146 Menage Expedition to the Philippines 



haired Spaniard, who treated us kindly during our stay and 

 showed us every courtesy. Outside the fort stand the house 

 where the Governor Hves, the house formerly used by him, which 

 fell to our lot during our stay, and the house of the official in- 

 terpreter. Scattered over the neighboring hills are a few small 

 clearings where some poverty-stricken Moros cultivate wild rice. 

 They are without exception escaped slaves, and come from Ba- 

 linbing, a pirate settlement on the opposite side of the island. 

 Dependent on Spanish protection, they are entirely harmless, 

 so that there is no danger in hunting near Tataan. The Governor 

 and Lieutenant above mentioned, with a European Sergeant, are 

 the only white men on this great island. The southern coast 

 has always been notorious as a refuge for pirates. There are 

 several settlements there at present, of which Balinbing is per- 

 haps the most noted, but all the places are under the surveillance 

 of Spanish gunboats, and as the only path across the island, 

 which runs from Tataan to Balinbing, has fallen into disuse, 

 we felt perfectly safe. 



The house we occupied was a large one, made in the usual 

 way, and containing but a single room. Fifteen minutes' walk 

 brought us into virgin forest. Our first few days of work 

 were disappointing, as we had hoped to strike an entirely new 

 set of birds in Tawi Tawi, and it seemed as if they were going 

 to turn out to be identical with those of Sulu. But as birds that 

 were extremely rare in Sulu, so that we could not get satisfac- 

 tory sets of duplicates, were very common here, we felt that we 

 could put in our time profitably. Some very pleasant surprises 

 awaited us, however. The first was a pigeon, of the genus 

 Ptilopus. There are several "bloody-breasted" pigeons in the 

 Philippines, but this one differs strikingly from all the others 

 in having a beautiful orange spot on the breast, in place of the 

 usual red one, as well as in the coloring of the back. It is a 

 magnificent bird, and we decided at once that our trip to Tawi 

 Tawi was a success, even though we got nothing else. 



We did not have to remain content with this bird, however. 

 There are three species of "racquet-tailed" parrots known from 

 the Philippines. They are rather closely allied, and distinguished 

 by the shade of green, the amount of blue on head, etc. Well, I shot 

 what I supposed to be the Sulu *'racquet-tail." As my man 

 picked it up I noticed what seemed to be a great blood spot on 



