250 DR. F. H. H. GUILLEMARD ON B[RDS COLLECTED [Mar. 1 7, 



Borneo. The only examples of lyngipicus ramsayi that I am aware 

 of are in Capt. Wardlaw Ramsay's collection, and are believed to 

 come from N.E. Borneo. In both these cases I would submit that 

 the locality is not a matter of absolute certainty. With regard to 

 Gej-yyone Jiaveola it is worthy of remark that the Sulu examples of 

 this species appear to be almost intermediate between Boruean birds 

 and G. simplex of the Philippines. We have thus three species of 

 doubtful Boruean origin, and no less than ten times that number of 

 Philii)pine birds. Of the latter, the following is a list ; those marked 

 with an asterisk being represented in Borneo by closely allied 

 species. 



Table showing the Philippine Species occurring in the Sulu group 



but wanting in Borneo. 



Cacatua breinatiiropygia. 



Prionitiu'us discurus. 



Tanygiiathus luzouieusis. 



Tanygiiatbus burbidgei. 



Loriculus boiiapartei. 

 »Pelargopsis gigantea. 

 ■»Centrococcyx viridis. 

 ♦Rhipidura nigritorquis. 

 *Cyornis pbilippensis. 



Oriolus frontalis. 

 «Pycnoiir>tiis goiavier. 

 #Co? f^ycbus iiiindanensis. 



Cisticola exilis. 



Parus elegans. 



Zoster ojis everetti. 



Dicteuiu hypoleucuin. 

 #Ciniiyris jugularis. 



Cinuyris julice. 



Corone philippina. 

 #Caloniis panayensis. 



Saroops ealvus. 

 »Munia jagori. 



Osmotrerou axillaris. 



Ptilopus nielanocephalus. 



Phabotrerun brevirostris. 



lanthcEoas griseigiilaris. 



Macropygia tenuirostris. 



Tiirtur dussumieri. 



Gallus baukiva. 



Rallina euryzonoides. 



Such an immense proportion of Philippine forms is, however, 

 only what would be expected after consulting the charts of the 

 Archipelago. The Strait of Basilan shows soundings of from 

 30-40 fathoms only, and from that island south-westwards to Tawi- 

 tawi the depths are such that a ship could easily anchor at almost 

 any point on the submarine bank connecting the group. West of 

 Tawi-tawi, however, the level of the sea-bottom completely changes, 

 depths of 100 fathoms or more being obtained close in-shore, while 

 in the fairway of the Strait (the Sibutu Passage) Captain Chimmo was 

 unable to get bottom at 500 fathoms. The distance across the Strait 

 is about eighteen miles, and the surveys hitherto made seem to show 

 an equally precipitous slope of the eastern banks of Sibutu Island. 

 We are at present without exact information as to the soundings 

 between Sibutu and Borneo, one point of which, Tanjong Labian, is 

 distant only twenty miles, but as many islets, reefs, and sand-cays 

 are known to intervene, it is almost certain that they are no( of any 

 great depth. 



This Sibutu Passage thus seems to be the natural delimitation of 

 the Philippine Archipelago, and though of the only two species 

 obtained, or said to have been obtained, from Sibutu Island, Oriolus 

 chinensis and Sarcops caJvus, the latter at least is puiely Philippine, 

 I cannot help thinking that a more extended knowledge of its avi- 



