
734 The American Naturalist. [August, 
swallows, shrikes, two species of starlings, cockatoos, parrots, owls, 
woodpeckers, and hornbills. But for the help of the natives our col- 
lections would have been poor ; but the island seems over-populated, 
at least for the methods of cultivation used, and the people were 
anxious to get our money. Among the animals brought us were two 
of the curious Philippine rats (Phloeomys). They were nearly as large 
as our common gray rabbit, light-gray in color, with short black tails. 
They were brought living, tied together to a stick, and had nearly cut 
each other to pieces before we received them. 
A trip down the beach to the south two or three miles brought us 
to a small creek flowing out of the hills, and following this up we 
found some woodland in the steep ravines, and many birds, among 
them two species of beautiful pittas, in abundance, and further above, 
a few of the great hornbills (Buceros hydrocorax), and the curious 
crested cuckoos (Dasylophus), before supposed to be limited to Luzon. 
At about the same distancé to the north there was a tract of lowland, 
much of it planted in rice, which was now being harvested, and here 
all kinds of waders were abundant,—rails and gallinules and herons of 
several species, most of them nesting, and a few Philippine mallards. 
Along the sea beach were thickets of small timber, and upon these we 
found one of the prettiest of the Philippine tree snails quite abundant, 
while the natives brought us from further inland quantities of Budimus 
philippenensts and woodianus, two of the largest and finest species in 
the islands, The weather, which was dry when we arrived, gradually 
changed. Rain-clouds gathered over the hill-tops, and before the 
close of the month we had several heavy showers, and the rainy season 
had begun, and we prepared to move before it again,—this time to the 
little-known island of Mindoro, which was in sight across the strait, 
twelve or fifteen miles away.—J. B. STEERE, Ann Arbor, Mich. 
Pe a ia eee 


