﻿BIRDS OBSERVED IN BANTAYAN ISLAND, 

 PROVINCE OF CEBU. 



Bv Richard C. McGregor. 



Bantayan is an island 47 square miles 1 in area, lying 8 miles west of 

 the northern portion of Oebu Island and northeast of the northeastern 

 point of Negros. The 22 miles between Bantayan and Negros is par- 

 tially bridged by the Dons, a series of seven isles varying from 0.1 to 

 1.3 square miles in area, and very shallow water is found for a con- 

 siderable distance from Bantayan toward Negros. 



The surface of Bantayan is flat, the soil sandy and rather poor, and 

 the native vegetation offers but little attraction. There are no streams 

 and but one or two small, shallow ponds. A large area of tide flats is 

 exposed at low water, affording feeding ground for many migratory shore 

 birds. 



Corn is the staple food product, and among fiber plants the pineapple 

 and maguey are planted in quantities affording a steady source of revenue 

 to the inhabitants of the island. The women are industrious and expert 

 workers on the loom. 



Groves of coconut trees extending in an almost unbroken band along 

 the shore afford excellent feeding ground for Loriculus, but neither 

 search nor inquiry resulted in any evidence of its presence. 



Birds were collected on Bantayan from August 20 to September 21, 

 1906, and 66 species were recorded. Of these Orthotonus cinereiceps 

 and Iole guimarasensis demonstrate that this island belongs with the 

 central Philippines ( Panay, Negros, Guimaras, Masbate, Ticao) and not 

 with Cebu. Dicrurus mirabttis, while a central Philippine species, is 

 found also in Cebu ; its presence in Bantayan, therefore, merely unites the 

 fauna of that island with the central group without separating it from 

 Cebu. 



LIST OF SPECIES. 



Megapodius cumingi Dillw. 



No individual of this species was seen but 1 feel justified in recording it from 

 the island on the strength of the examination of two large mounds which were 

 evidently in use by birds on September 3, 1906. 

 Osmoteron vernans (Linn.). 



Two males and a female. 



x Areas of islands from Census of the Philippine Islands (1003), 1, 270. 

 310 



