i66 Menage Expedition to the Philippines 



In this way we are enabled to avoid the worst part of the 

 rainy season and cover the ground we desire. 



It is of course not so pleasant this way, as we are compelled 

 to be alone. But the work required it, so we made the change. 

 I don't expect to speak English again until I reach Singapore in 

 December. 



I shall write to you from time to time, as will Mr. Worcester, 

 so you will be posted as to our work. 



Yours very truly, 



F. S. Bourns. 



X. 



Romblon, October 23, 1892. 



I am waiting for a steamer for Manila which will very likely 

 arrive before I can finish this letter ; but I will at least begin. 

 Mr. Bourns wrote the last letter we have sent you, from Manila, 

 just before we separated. Since that time I have visited the is- 

 lands of Romblon, Tablas and Sibuyan. 



I arrived in Romblon seven weeks ago to-day, and was very 

 shortly in a comfortable house. Romblon is an island almost en- 

 tirely under cultivation, and I had not hoped to be able to do much 

 here, expecting merely to make it a base of operations in visit- 

 ing Tablas and Cibuyan. A steam launch left for Cibuyan shortly 

 after my arrival, but I could not take it, as it was necessary for 

 me to make my usual call on the Governor, and there was no 

 time to do so before the launch left. A heavy storm of wind and 

 rain set in at once, and lasted with little interruption for two 

 weeks. The launch was unable to get back from Cibuyan, and I 

 was stranded here. 



I was able however to put in my time to much better advan- 

 tage than I had expected. There is one bit of forest near the 

 town, and we were so anxious to see what could be found that 

 we hunted without much regard to the weather. The first day's 

 • work resulted in the discovery of two new birds, a "fruit-thrush"* 

 and a flower pecker."t These were the only new birds we got, 

 but we shot a good many old ones that were well worth having. 

 We are well pleased, in these days, with an island that gives us 

 even two new birds. We found forty-five species here. These 

 three islands are famous also for their land shells, and this wet 

 season is the very time to get them. 



*Iole cinereiceps B. & W. 

 tDicaeum intermedia B. & W. 



