1877.] THE ORNITHOLOGY OF THE PHILIPPINES. 687 



pelago^ I enumerated 218 species. This number must be diminished 

 by one, Circus cRruginosus, Mr. H. Cuming's Philippine specimen, 

 catalogued under that title by Mr. Sharpe (Cat. Accipitres B. Mus. 

 p. 71), my only authority, being now considered by Mr. Sharpe to 

 be C. spilo7iotus, jr. (seelbis, 18/0, p. 31). Further, Ihave reason 

 to doubt the Philippine habitat of so-called Crateropus caudatus 

 (no. 97). To the net total of 216 species Mr. Sharpe has been able 

 to add some 66 species, for the most part obtained by Dr. Steere^. 

 This total is partly arrived at by including 23 species from the island 

 of Palawan, 4 from that of Balabac, and 4 from the Sooloo Islands. 

 In a footnote {t. c. p. 126) I excluded the Sooloo archipelago from 

 the Philippine area ; and as we have only the evidence of four known 

 Sooloo species of birds to guide us, I am disinclined as yet to concur 

 in Mr. Sharpe's opinion that these islands ought to be included. 

 Nor am I quite certain that Palawan and still more Balabac should 

 not be excluded. That Palawan certainly is a border region, inter- 

 vening between Borneo and the Philippine Islands, is made evident 

 by Dr. Steere's remarkable discoveries ; but the Malayan character of 

 its ornis overpowers the Philippine element ; and until its fauna and 

 that of the Sooloo Islands shall have been more completely inves- 

 tigated, I purpose to exclude them from what I consider to be 

 the strictly Philippiue area. Deducting, therefore, the 23 Palawan, 

 the 4 Balabac, and the 4 Sooloo species (not known in the Philippine 

 archipelago as restricted by me) from Mr. Sharpe's list (^. c. p. 

 350), in all we have a total of 35 purely Philippine birds added by 

 Dr. Steere to my amended number of 216, making 251 in all. The 

 naturalists of the ' Challenger ' Expedition added 1 1 more (see my 

 paper above, p. 537), making an amended total of 262 Philippine 

 species ; and to this number Mr. Everett has enabled me to add 6 

 from Luzon, namely three new species, 



Megulurus ruficeps, Oxycerca everetti, 



DiccBum xanthopygium, 



two not hitherto recorded, 



Motacilla ocularis, Anthus maculatus, 



and one previously supposed to be a Malayan species, 



Turnix fasciatus. 



So 268 species of birds may at this date be considered the total 

 number known to occur in the Philippine Islands, exclusive of Pala- 

 wan, Balabac, and the Sooloos. 



1 Traus. Zool. Soc. 1875, ix. pp. 12.5-252. 



^ Sharpe, Trans. Linn. Soc. ser. 2, Zool. i. p. 307. This number is less by two 

 than Mr. Sharpe's estimate {t.c. p. 308), inconsequence of my not being able to 

 recognize Chyiocalaptes maculiccps, Sharpe, as being distinct from C. lucidus 

 (Scop.), and Hirundo rustica of the Islands as diifering from H. giMiiralis. 

 Brachyurus jpropinqmts, Sharpe, ex Mindanao, doe-; not appear to be distinct 

 from Erythropitta erythrogastra, ex Luzon, though the Balabac type may be 

 different. Perhaps the Zebu Cyornis, C. banytimas of my list (no. 84), may 

 have to be added as constituting a distinct species ; for it appears to differ spe- 

 cifically from G. philippensis, Sharpe, ex Luzon and Panay. 



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