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THE PHILIPPINE 
JOURNAL OF SCIENCE 
VoL. 16 APRIL, 1920 No. 4 
SOME FEATURES OF THE PHILIPPINE ORNIS 
WITH NOTES ON THE VEGETATION IN RELATION 
TO THE AVIFAUNA 
By Richard C. McGregor 
Ornithologist, Bureau of Science, Manila 
THIRTY-FIVE PLATES 
SCARCITY OF SEA BIRDS IN PHILIPPINE WATERS 
Ships from China approach Manila from the north and pass 
along the western coast of northern Luzon. A few steamers, 
mostly United States Army transports from California, pass 
through San Bernardino Strait, between Luzon and Samar, and 
thus reach the entrance to Manila Bay from the south. By 
either route Luzon is within sight for two or three days; but 
no gulls meet the ship to convoy her to port, and other sea birds 
are very scarce. A few stolid gannets, an occasional man-of-war 
bird, and an infrequent shearwater or petrel are all that can 
be expected. 
Tubinares appear to be very rare in Philippine waters, for 
only three species have been recorded here. These are Puffinus 
leucomelas Temminck, one specimen of which was collected by 
Hugh Cuming,^ and another, by Paul Bartsch ; ^ Puffinus chloro- 
rhynchus Gould, collected by Dean C. Worcester off the Zambales 
coast in 1910 ; ® and Oceanodroma species, collected by me near 
^ Salvin, Osbert, Catalogue of the Birds in the British Museum. London 
25 (1896) 371. Mathews and Iredale, Ibis X 3 (1915) 592, fig. 9, h and 
d, make Puffinus leucomelas the type of a new genus, Calonectris. They 
also record two “adult breeding birds in good plumage” from Pescadores 
Islands, May, 1909. 
^’Mearns, E. A., Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. 36 (1909) 464. 
"McGregor, R. C., Philip. Joum. Sci. § D 6 (1911) 183. 
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