16,4 McGj'egor: Some Features of the Philippine Ornis 369 
and Alcedo bengalensis — are fairly common about Manila. The 
second and the third fish in small tidal streams within the city 
and often rest in convenient clumps of bamboo. I have found 
Alcedo bengalensis fishing in a small ditch, near the Walled City; 
and a specimen of Halcyon chloris can often be seen on Bagum- 
bayan Drive, near the botanic garden. A grass warbler, Cisticola 
exilis (Vigors and Horsfield), sits on a telegraph wire, and a 
tailorbird, Orthotomus chloronotus Grant, sings in a bamboo 
thicket a few squares from the Bureau of Science. A small 
hawk, Falco severm Horsfield, has long made its headquarters 
on the roof of the Bureau of Science building. Two small swifts, 
Tachornis pallidior McGregor and a species of Collocalia, fre- 
quently fly over various parts of the city. Swallows, Hirundo 
javanica Sparrman and H. gutturalis Scopoli, can be seen over 
Pasig River in the busiest part of the city ; and a large flock of 
these swallows regularly gathers the adults of the tobacco beetle, 
Lasioderma serricorne Fabricius,^® as they emerge from a tobacco 
warehouse. Two species of doves, Streptopelia dussumieri 
(Temminck) and CEnopopelia humilis (Temminck) , can be found 
in some of the few clumps of bamboo that remain about the 
edges of town. 
Many of the birds mentioned in the last paragraph are not 
dependent upon any particular type of vegetation and are found 
feeding about streams, grasslands, second-growth thickets, and 
forests. The tailorbirds do not adapt themselves to planted 
vegetation in cities, but vanish with the clumps of bamboo and 
other wild thickets. The three kingfishers mentioned take kindly 
to man’s alteration of the vegetation, and all of them are among 
the commonest species of birds to be noted on nearly every island. 
Alcedo bengalensis often feeds along the beach at low tide, and 
the two larger species are frequenters of coconut groves. I have 
recorded the interesting case of Halcyon chloi'is killing a half- 
grown chicken.^^ It sometimes happens that examples of these 
three kingfishers are within sight at one time, and they are 
conspicuous elements of the ornis. 
Halcyon chloris is the noisest of these and its harsh, somewhat 
metallic call, “kak kak kak, kak kak,” can be heard in the 
early morning, at midday, and late at night. 
SHORE BIRDS OF MANILA 
No city as large as Manila will offer many inducements to 
shore birds, but there are some low unfilled spots and natural 
For the life history of this beetle see Jones, C. R., Philip. Journ. 
Sci. § D 8 (1913) 1. 
“'‘Philip. Journ. Sci. § A 2 (1907) 346. 
