I02 The American Naturalist. [March, 
May we not in conclusion, fittingly adopt the words of a 
modern seer, with him agreeing that " between two opposing 
tendencies, one urging to variation, the other to permanence, 
(for nature herself is half radical, half conservative) the lan- 
guage of birds has grown from rude beginnings to its present 
beautiful diversity, and whoever lives a century of milleniums 
hence, will listen to music such as we in this day can only 
dream of. Inappreciably but ceaselessly the work goes on. 
Here and there is born a master singer, a feathered genius, and 
every generation makes it own addition to the glorious inher- 
A MONTH IN THE EASTERN PHILLIPINES. 
BY J. B. STEERE. 
Al^E spent the last days of March, 1888, at Cebu, in packing 
our collections from the Central islands. We were for- 
tunate in finding an American vessel in port, sailing to Boston, 
and nearly loaded with sugar and manila hemp, and shipped 
home several cases of bird skins and other valuable and per- 
ishable collections by her, while the bulkier part, corals and sea 
shells, were left to be forwarded in the same way at a later date. 
We then took passage on the little Spanish steamer "Gravina," 
for Catbalogan on the island of Samar, the most eastern of the 
archipelago. The weather was of the ordinary Philippine 
kind, calm and with smooth seas. We left Cebu about noon, 
passed by the northern end of Bojol, and were then in sight 
of the mountains of Leite, and we spent the evening in coasting 
up the west shore of that island. The next morning when we 
waked up we were lying at anchor in front of the town of Cat- 
balogan. We were started out of our berths a little sooner 
than common by an outcry among the Spanish passengers, 
and a call for the " Naturalistas Americanos." Hurrying into 
one of the passage ways, I found a Spanish military officer 
