Sia Weeks in Southern Mindanao. 293 
had met and shot in the path, and three snakes were brought in of 
several species, some of them venomous, Among birds we pro- 
cured three species of-horn-fills, all different from those of Paraqua. 
Among them the great double-crested one, over a yard in length. 
These were found feeding in the wild fig trees at a height of one 
hundred and fifty to two hundred feet from the ground, and it 
tried all the shooting qualities of our guns to bring them down. 
They made the woods ring with their harsh cries of ca-la-o, from 
whence they got their native name. We found seven species of 
kingfishers, among them one apparently unnamed, and the rare 
spotted hombroni. We also found the species of broad-bill 
Eurylaimus, supposed to be confined to Basilan. It inhabits differ- 
ent heights in the two islands, and a more extended search may 
prove that the fauna of the two islands does not differ as much as 
has been supposed. Hawks were abundant and varied, and we 
procured some nine or ten species varying in size from the great 
sea eagle, closely allied to our bald headed eagle, and a fish hawk 
equalling it in size, to the little black hawk with white breast, 
Microhierax. It is about six inches in length, and one of the 
smallest of its tribe. The rice fields and adjacent swamps produced 
six species of rails and eight of herons, with a multitude of other 
waders. ; 
After three weeks of hard work, interrupted by a few days of 
fever with two of the party, we returned to Zamboanga with a 
collection of seven hundred specimens of birds, of some one hundred 
and fifty species, fifty mammals, seventy-five reptiles, and a few 
fish and amphibians. 
After a visit to the island of Basilan we returned to Zamboanga 
and went north again, this time to a little bay called El Recodo, 
or La Culdera, about twelve miles from the city. We had heard 
that corals were abundant here, and were not disappointed. A 
gap between the hills into which the sea entered, and then a long, 
low sand bar running out from one side and bending around, 
formed a quiet little bay, with deep water in the centre shoaling 
on every side. Two or three hundred Moros had built low, tumble- 
down houses along the inner side of the sand bar and over the water, 
while two or three Chinamen, who had followed them for purposes 
of trade, had built homes on the inner side of the bay on the 
Aquala road. After getting settled in one of these houses, we 
