4- 



inhabit the geographical area known as the Philippine Islands, as fixed 

 by the treaty of Paris and the supplementary purchase of islands by the 

 United States Government. The species of the Palawan Islands (Bala- 

 bac, Palawan, Calamianes, and Cuyos groups) have accordingly been 

 included. 



The Distribution List of Philippine Birds prepared by Dr. Frank S. 

 Bourns and myself (Proceedings of the United States National Museum. 

 Vol. XX, pp. 549-566, 1898) enumerated 243 genera and 596 species 

 for this same area. The work of Mr. John Whitehead, Dr. Edgar A. 

 Mearns, Mr. Walter Goodfellow, Mr. John Waterstradt, and of Mr. Mc- 

 Gregor and his Filipino assistants, together with such fragmentary work- 

 as I myself have been able to carry on in connection with official trips 

 through the Islands, has raised this total to 284 genera, 691 identified 

 species, and two species (Oceanodroma sp. and loiiculns sp.) not identi- 

 fied. Some knowledge has been gained of the avifauna? of the Islands of 

 Ticao, Lubang, Cagayancillo, Agutaya, Calayan, Cresta de Gallo, Maestro 

 de Campo, Semirara, East Balud> West Balud, and Sibay, the birds of 

 which were heretofore entirely unknown. 



The highlands of Mindanao have yielded a number of most interesting 

 new genera and species, and additional knowledge has been gained relative 

 to the birds of Luzon, Mindoro, Masbate, Negros, Samar, Cuyo, Culion, 

 Cagayan-Sulu, Fuga, Eomblon, and Sibuyan. 



From the information now available we may deduce the following con- 

 clusions relative to the zoological relationships of these several islands: 



Ticao belongs with the central group (Panay, Guimaras, Negros, and 

 Masbate) rather than with Luzon. 



Lubang must be considered a detached fragment of Luzon, as it has 

 a number of characteristic Luzon species and .entirely lacks those which 

 are especially characteristic of Mindoro. One species (Aethopyga rubri- 

 nota McGregor) is, so far as we at present know, confined to this island. 



On Cagayancillo is found Cinnyris aurora, but no other of the charac- 

 teristic Palawan forms are known to exist there, while the occurrence of 

 such species as Centropus viridis, Hypotaenidia torquata, Eallina ciin/- 

 zonoides, Limnobeanus fuscus, and Hierococcyx fugax, and the con- 

 spicuous absence of many of the species which are most common on the 

 neighboring islands, lead to the conclusion that Cagayancillo is an oceanic 

 island of recent formation and that its bird population is composed of 

 the descendants of stragglers, most of which have probably come in from 

 Negros or Mindanao, although C. aurora is evidently a wanderer from 

 Cuyo or Palawan. 



Agutaya belongs to the Palawan group. 



Calayan has a strong Formosan element. Probably it will ultimately 

 prove that the Batanes and Babuyanes Islands form a group by them- 

 selves. 



Semirara belongs with Mindoro. 



