126 VISCOUNT WALDEN ON THE BIRDS 
again visited by an ornithologist, when in 1829 Kittlitz touched at Manilla, and there 
procured several undescribed species. Since that date Manilla has been visited from 
time to time by different travellers and exploring-expeditions, and new species have 
been obtained, which on being brought to Europe have been described and named’. In 
1871 new ground was broken by Mr. L. C. Layard, who made a small collection of 
birds in the islands of Negros and Guimaras’; and, lastly, Dr. A. Bernhard Meyer has 
explored the equally unknown island of Zebu. Dr. Meyer having with great courtesy 
placed the bulk of his collection at my disposal, it was my original intention to have 
confined myself to a bare catalogue of its contents ; but, it having been suggested to me 
that a complete list of the known Philippine® birds would prove more generally useful, 
and would supply a want much felt in the ornithological literature of the Indian region, 
Ihave ventured, with much diffidence, to prepare this catalogue of authentic Philippine 
birds. It is true that a valuable list of the Philippine birds has already been published 
(in 1866) by Dr. Eduard y. Martens *, from which I have derived the greatest assistance ; 
still in it several authentic species are omitted, in some instances titles belonging to the 
same are treated as belonging to distinct species, and, moreover, some new species have 
been discovered and described since Dr. y. Martens wrote. Nor in the somewhat intri- 
cate synonymy is the subject in all instances exhaustively dealt with; and it has been 
one of my objects to endeavour to fix on a firm basis the nomenclature of all the birds 
known to possess a Philippine origin. 
The literature of the subject practically commenced with Brisson ®, who in his well 
’ For a full account of the principal ornithological collectors in the Philippines, ef. Dr. vy. Martens, Journ. f. 
Orn. 1866, p. 5. 
2 Cf. Ibis, 1872, p. 93. 
° T restrict the term Philippines to that group of islands which is separated from Northern Borneo by the Ba- 
labae Strait and the Sea of Mindoro, exclusive of the Sooloo archipelago, and from Celebes by the Sea of Celebes. 
It may be necessary when the fauna of the Sooloo archipelago is better known, to include it also within the 
Philippine area; but, on the other hand, when the fauna of the island of Palawan has been investigated, that 
may have to be separated from the Philippine area. The positions both of Palawan and of the Sooloo Islands 
(at present all but zoological blanks) are of the highest geographical interest; for Palawan, stretching out for 
260 miles, unites the northermost point of Borneo to Luzon through the Calamines, while the island of Mindoro, 
and the islands of the Sooloo archipelago form a succession of connecting links between Mindanao and the 
most north-east point of Borneo. 
* Journ. f. Orn. 1866, pp. 8-31. 
* No titles were founded on the Jesuit Camel’s well-known paper, “‘ De Avibus Philippensibus.” The follow- 
ing is a list of the principal authors who have written on Philippine ornithology :— 
Brisson, M. J. Ornithologia (1760). 
Sonnerat. Voy, 4 la Nouvelle Guinée (1776). 
Vieors. P.Z.8. 1831. 
V. Kirrrrrz. Mémoires présentés 4 l’Acad. Imp. Se. de St. Pétersb, vol. ii. (1833). Kupfertafeln z. Naturgesch. 
d. Vogel (1832-33). Liitke, Voy. autour du Monde (Postels), vol. iii. (1836). 
J. ¥. Meyun. Nov. Act. Acad. C. L. C. Nat. Cur. vol. xvi, suppl. prim. (1834). 
Eypovx et Sovreyer. Voy. autour du Monde sur la Bonite. Zoologie, vol. i. (1841). 
