McGregor: Some Features of the Philippine Ornis 363 
Gould has been only recently credited to the Philippines. The 
cormorants, the pelicans, and the grebes are represented by a 
single species each — even these are seldom found about salt 
water. 
The foregoing include all of the Philippine sea birds. Puffins, 
guillemots, sea ducks, and auklets, characteristic of northern 
seas, are altogether lacking here. By describing this feature of 
the Philippine ornis first there is danger of giving it too much 
emphasis, but this scarcity of sea birds is sure to impress anyone 
that is familiar with the many sea birds of Asia or of the Pa- 
cific coast of North America. 
TOPOGRAPHIC FEATURES OF THE MANILA AREA 
Guarding the entrance to Manila Bay are several rocky is- 
lands — Monja, Corregidor, Caballo, Fraile — the largest and high- 
est of which is Corregidor. To the northwest of the entrance 
are the forested Mariveles Mountains, of Bataan Province, with 
elevations of 1,200 to 1,400 meters to the southeast are the 
lower areas of Cavite and Batangas Provinces. 
Manila lies northeast of Corregidor Island, nearly opposite 
the entrance to Manila Bay, at the mouth of Pasig Kiver. From 
the water the city usually appears to be enveloped in a smoky 
haze, and the monotony of the low land immediately surrounding 
the town is broken only by the dim outlines of the distant moun- 
tains of Laguna, Rizal, and Pampanga Provinces. At one time 
most of the land on which Manila is situated must have sup- 
ported nipa and mangroves and have been cut by numerous 
sluggish streams. The swamps have been gradually filled, so 
that scattered unfilled areas and the numerous tortuous esteros, 
or tidal creeks, are the only visible remains of the old swamps. 
The esteros are tributary to Pasig River, which is the outlet of 
Lake Bay and flows through Manila. 
North and northwest of Manila the area near the bay shore 
in Bulacan and Pampanga Provinces is a vast swamp cut by 
esteros, an area similar to what Manila must have been before 
there was a city. Many of these streams are outlets for the 
Pampanga and other rivers, which drain an immense area of 
low, flat land north and northwest of Manila. The shallow 
water of Manila Bay off shore from this swampy area covers 
a deposit of deep black mud. As the shore enters Bataan 
“Ibid. 3. 
“See Whitford, H. N., Philip. Journ. Sci. 1 (1906) 376 and map. 
