338 The Philippine Journal of Science i9i8 



upon with equal facility. I have, moreover, specimens of the 

 present species which do not agree well with the distinctive 

 characters given for ochrothorectis. I have preferred, there- 

 fore, to follow the nomenclature used by Sharpe and followed 

 by McGregor. 



Halcyon pileatus (Boddaert). 



On March 15 at Brooke's Point I saw a solitary black-capped 

 kingfisher at the edge of a mangrove swamp into which the 

 bird retreated at my approach. As progress in the swamp was 

 infinitely more difficult for me than for the bird, it soon escaped 

 entirely out of sight. At Balabac on March 20 I saw another 

 of the species along a stream among the wooded hills, and on 

 March 22 at Candauaga I saw a third at the edge of a nipa 

 swamp bordering one of the rivers. I succeeded in getting none 

 of them. 



Halcyon chloris (Boddaert). 



White-collared kingfishers were the commonest of all of their 

 family in the region. More, perhaps, were noted in the neigh- 

 borhood of human habitations than in the remote districts, pos- 

 sibly because the birds, like man, favored more or less cleared 

 areas. A pair inhabited the tiny grove of coconuts behind the 

 governor's house at Brooke's Point, where they were in evidence 

 every day, for the most part fearless at my approach. 



BUCEROTID^ 



Gymnolaemus lemprieri (Sharpe). 



The Palawan hornbill was a very interesting bird of which I 

 saw rather less than I desired. It seemed to be a silent creature 

 most of the time, not given much to vocal expression, but its 

 voice when used was loud and raucous although less resonant 

 and powerful than that of the larger Hijdrocorax of other of the 

 Philippine Islands. These hornbills were wary, though when 

 startled they did not always seek distant forest depths but often 

 settled again in trees hardly out of sight of the perches they 

 had just abandoned. There, however, they remained alert and 

 watchful, prepared to seek further safety in flight perhaps more 

 readily than the first time they had been disturbed. They were 

 fond of a certain large-seeded fruit, which was common in the 

 forest, and upon which they were most often seen feeding in 

 company with various of the pigeons. Occasionally solitary 



