16,4 McGregor: Some Features of the Philippine Ornis 385 
of towns and of Government stations within the last twenty-five years, 
whilst the natives themselves, by their extravagant system of cultivation, 
whereby tracts of jungle are annually destroyed, must be responsible 
in the long run for the extermination of many species. 
TYPES OF PHILIPPINE FORESTS 
Vegetation is such an important factor in the distribution of 
birds that it is necessary to consider in some detail the various 
types of Philippine forest. Most of my information concerning 
forests is condensed from Whitford wherever it is not quoted 
exactly from him or from other authors. As already stated it 
is believed that practically the entire area of the Islands was 
at one time covered with forest. The extent of the change 
brought about by man is shown by estimates of the Philippine 
Bureau of Forestry, given here as Table 1. 
Table 1 . — Areas of various types of vegetation in the Philippine Islands. 
Virgin forest 
Square miles. 
40,000 
Per cent. 
33^ 
Second-growth forest 
20,000 
161 
Grassland 
48,000 
40 
Cultivated land 
12,000 
10 
Total 
120,000 
100 
Whitford says : 
Put in another way, the land area of the Philippines is about equal to 
that of the State of New Mexico, while the virgin forest is approximately 
equal to the entire area of the State of Kentucky, [p. 13.] 
George P. Ahern, for many years director of the Philippine 
Bureau of Forestry, was enthusiastic over the variety of tree 
species in the native forest. In one of the Government publica- 
tions he saysP® 
One can not realize the richness of the tree flora of the Philippine 
Islands until he is told that there have already been found over two 
thousand kinds in the Philippine Islands. This means more to the average 
person when it is known that this is probably three times as many varieties 
as have been found in the United States. When all is known concerning 
the tree flora of the Philippines it is probable that this number will 
reach three thousand. Of course it must be stated that all of these are 
not used commercially. 
According to Whitford there are one hundred six species of 
Philippine trees the lumber from which finds a place of some 
“The forests of the Philippines, Bull. P. I. Bur. Forestry 10^ (1911) 
94 pp., 24 pis. 
“ A few pertinent facts concerning the Philippine forests, P. I. Bur. 
Forestry Circular 3 (1908) 9. 
"Bull. P. I. Bur. Forestry 10^ (1911) 9, 10. 
