﻿NOTES ON BIRDS COLLECTED- IN CEBU. 



Bv Richard C. McGregor. 



INTRODUCTION. 



Cebu Island is of very peculiar ornithological interest, this interest is- 

 so great not only because of the species lacking in its fauna but also 

 because of those limited in their range to its territory. 



Zoologically, Cebu is the most anomalous island of the Philippine 

 Archipelago. The greater part of its west coast is nearly parallel with 

 the east coast of Negros ; while the southern point of Cebu is within 4 

 miles of the Negros coast, yet the species of birds known from the two 

 islands are very different. 



Not far distant and southeast of Cebu is the island of Bohol x but 

 the birds of Cebu and Bohol show scarcely any relationship ; in fact these 

 two islands are less closely related than are Luzon and Basilan. 



Worcester 2 has fully discussed the fauna of Cebu and has shown that 

 while it contains some elements strongly suggestive of a close relationship 

 to that of the central Philippines, 3 the island in reality must be separated 

 from that group. 



The positive evidence of the necessity for separating Cebu from the 

 central Philippines consists in the presence of the following species which 

 are peculiar to Cebu: 



SPECIES PECULIAR TO CEBU. 



Phapitreron frontalis. Chloropsis flavipennis.* 



Loriculus chrysonotus. Cittocincla cebuensis. 



Oriolus assimilis. Idle monticola. 



Dicceum pallidior. Edoliisoma cebuensis. 



Prionochilus quadricolor. Artamides cebuensis. 

 Cryptolopha cebuensis. 



1 The town, of Cebu and Point Corte, the nearest point in Bohol, are less than 

 20 miles apart, with Mactan, Olango, and other smaller islands between them. 

 Further south Argao in Cebu is but 14 miles from the Bohol coast. 



2 Proc. U. 8. Nat. Mus., Wash. (1897), 20, 579-580. For an account of the 

 topograph}' and geology of Cebu see Smith: This Journal ( 1906), T, 1043. 



3 The Central Philippines comprise the islands of Negros, Panay, Guimaras, 

 Bantayan, Masbate, and Ticao. 



4 Erroneously recorded from Mindanao. See Worcester: Publications of the 

 Bureau of Government Laboratories, Manila (1906), No. 36, 78 (footnote). 



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