164 Menage lixpedition to the Philippines 



As there remains very little forest in Cebu, birds are difficult to 

 obtain and some have not been found since their- discovery years 

 ago. We were very much pleased, therefore, to get good sets 

 of such birds as Phyllernis flavipennis, Oriolus assimilis, Prion- 

 ochilus quadricola, etc. These birds are even now rare and valu- 

 able, and as time goes on they will become more so because the 

 forests of Cebu are rapidly disappearing and in a few years will 

 be gone. We obtained two or three that are probably new, 

 and some others that, although not new to us, are new to science, 

 being identified with new species before obtained by us in Negros, 

 Panay and Siquija. Among these are two small kingfishers of 

 the genus Ceyx and a small sunbird. Another interesting find 

 was that of Aethopygia magnifica. This, one of the most beau- 

 tiful of the sunbirds, was discovered by Dr. Steere in 1874, in Ne- 

 gros, and up to the time of our arrival here was supposed to be 

 confined to that island. As we wrote at the time, we found it in 

 Panay in October of 1890, and now^ we find it in Cebu. It seems 

 quite strange that it should have escaped notice in Panay and 

 Cebu from 1784 to 1890, and we are very glad that we have been 

 able to add it to the fauna of these islands. 



We are able to report also the existence in Cebu of the 

 "maral" or wild cat, of which you have several srjccimens in your 

 possession. 



On our arrival in the city of Cebu we found awaiting us a 

 fine lot of the Venus' flower basket, Euplectella, which had been 

 collected in compliance with orders left by us some weeks pre- 

 vious. 



In Samar we were also quite successful. It was from Samar 

 that so many new birds were obtained by the Steere Expedition 

 in 1888, and as very careful work was done at that time we had 

 very little hope of new birds. But as the birds from Samar are 

 very valuable, we went cheerfully to work, and in order to be 

 near the woods built a small house near the hills, a distance of 

 three or four miles from town. 



Living thus on the edge of the woods we were able to get an 

 early start each morning and to spend a longer time in the woods 

 than is usually the case. We were thus enabled to get a large, 

 though not a complete set of the known birds. Two or three 

 of the birds that we desired escaped us. When we were here in 

 1888 there were many trees in blossom or fruiting, and from these 



