218



S. Porter—Wanderings in the Far East



bubbling sound like water being poured out of a narrow-necked bottle

and is quite unmistakable.


The Philippines possess some exquisite Sunbirds, one of the most

beautiful being the Yellow-breasted [Cinnyris jugularis) , a very common

bird in the open woodlands. In the course of a few hours one comes

across a great many of the exquisite mites and their sombrely coloured

mates.


Sometimes we saw perched in most conspicuous places a very

large warbler-like bird almost the size of a thrush ; this was the

Striated Marsh Warbler (. Megalurus palustris). It is a beautiful bird

though clad only in various shades of brown with black striations.

It must be one of the largest of the warblers.


Another bird which awakened memories of other happy days was

the Pied Fantail (Rhipidura javanica nigritorquis), a distant relative

of the New Zealand Fantail, a beautiful little bird but with nothing

like the endearing charm of the latter. It dances and flits about the

tops of the trees in true Fantail fashion, making a minute search for

the tiny flying insects upon which it feeds.


We were fortunate in seeing the Pied Chat ( Pratincola caprata),

the only chat indigenous to the Philippines. The male is a very con¬

spicuous black and white bird, the female being brown. Owing to

their habit of perching in exposed positions and puffing out their

feathers they are apt to look very much larger than they really are.


In the dense vegetation and thick grass we saw several specimens

of the Golden-headed Warbler ( Cisticola exilis) a very minute warbler¬

like bird. We heard the beautiful soft notes of the Eastern Ruby-

throat, a lovely bird of which I had several with me in Manila. This bird

is a winter migrant to the Philippines from the dreary wastes of Siberia

and Kamtschatka. It is of skulking habit and keeps to the ground in

the dense vegetation.


Several Taylor Birds ( Orthotomus derhianus) were seen. These are

dimunitive Warbler-like birds, remarkable on account of their method

of stitching together leaves in the shape of a pouch in which they place

their nest. They are found in most of the tropical countries in the

Far East.


Two species of Doves are common in the cultivated parts of Rizal:



