CHAP. XVII BORNEO, JAVA, AND THE PHILIPPINES 



388 



study of Philippine birds, and in 1873 published a 

 catalogue in the Transactions of the Zoological Society (Vol. 

 IX. Pt. 2, pp. 125-247). But since that date large 

 collections have been made by Everett, Steere, Whitehead, 

 and other travellers, the result of which has been to more 

 than double the known species, and to render the ornitho- 

 logical fauna an exceedingly rich one. Many of the Malayan 

 genera which were thought to be absent when the first 

 edition of this work was published have since been dis- 

 covered, among which are Phyllornis, Criniger, Diceum, 

 Prionochilus, and Batrachostomus. But there still 

 remain a large number of highly characteristic Malayan 

 genera whose absence gives a distinctive feature to the 

 Philippine bird fauna. Such are Meiglyptes, a genus of 

 woodpeckers ; Phoenicophaes, a remarkable genus of 

 cuckoos ; the long-tailed paroquets, Palseornis ; and all the 

 genera of Barbets except Xantholsema. There are also 

 many genera allied to Timalia and Ixos ; the mynahs, 

 Gracula ; the long-tailed flycatchers, Tchitrea ; the fire- 

 backed pheasants, Euplocamus ; the argus pheasants, and 

 many others. 



The following tabular statement will illustrate the rapid 

 growth of our knowledge of the birds of the Philippines, 

 as in the case of the mammals excluding the Palawan 

 group :— 



Land-birds. 



Water-birds. 



Total. 



158 



60 



218 



265 



75 



340 



438 



88 



526 1 



Messrs. Worcester and Bourn's List (1898). 



Mr. W. Eagle Clarke has given me the latest figures 

 by including all the new species discovered up to the 

 present year (1901), as follows :— 



Land Birds ... 442 species, of wliicli 312 are pi'culiar. 

 Water Birds.. 97 ,, 6 



We have here, still more pronounced than in the case 

 of Borneo, the remarkable fact of the true land-birds 



1 Proc. U. S. Nat. Museum, vol. xx. (1898), pp. 549-625. 



