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Show 520 LORD "WALDEN ON PHILIPPINE BIRDS. [June 3, known German naturalist. During that short period this indefatigable collector obtained a large series of ornithological specimens, representing ninety-six species. The islands visited by him were Luzon, Negros, Zebu, Cuyo, and Guimaras, the last being a small island adjoining the southern coast of Panay, and lying in the channel which separates Panay from Negros. Hitherto most of the authentic so-called Philippine specimens of birds contained in European collections have been procured in Luzon, collected at no very great distance from the town of Manilla, its capital; and nearly all the zoological travellers who have visited the Philippines have confined their researches to the vicinity of that town. It follows, consequently, that ' the Philippines,' so frequently occurring as a geographical expression in our lists, from the days of Brisson to the recent date of Mr. G. R. Gray's ' Hand-list,' must be taken to mean the country adjacent to the town of Manilla. To this rule Sonnerat is an exception. " After residing at Manilla, and forming collections in the interior of Luzon, Sonnerat visited Antigua, the capital of the island of Pauay, and then Zamboanga, the chief Spanish settlement in the large island of Mindanao. Panay does not seem to have been revisited by any ornithologist*; but in 1839, D'Urville's second expedition in the ' Astrolabe' remained two months at Zamboanga, and obtained a few zoological specimens. " It is possible that the late Mr. Hugh Cuming may have visited all these localities and many others during his long residence in the Philippines ; but as his large collection of birds was broken up without being catalogued, and as they were brought to Europe at a time when geographical distribution attracted less attention than now, we possess no published record of the exact localities where his specimens were obtained+. " After Sonnerat fifty-eight years appear to have elapsed before the Philippines were again visited by an ornithologist, when in 1829 Kittlitz touched at Manilla, and there procured several undescribed species. Since that date Manilla has been visited from time to time by different travellers and exploring expeditions, and new species have been obtained, which on being brought to Europe have been described and named J. In 1871 new ground was broken by Mr. L. C. Layard, who made a small collection of birds in the islands of Negros and Guimaras §; and, lastly, Dr. A. Bernhard Meyer has explored the equally unknown island of Zebu. Dr. Meyer having with great courtesy placed the great bulk of his collections at my * At least there does not appear to be any published record of Panay having been again visited, although Mr. Cassin (U.S. Exp. Exped. p. 143) certainly enumerates an example of Irena cyanogastra as having been obtained in this island. t A large portion of his ornithological collection was made in the southern part of the island of Luzon (cf. P. Z. S. 1839, p. 93) ; but it has since become scattered, and the individual specimens cannot now be identified. % For a full account of the principal ornithological collectors in the Philippines, cf. Dr. v. Martens. Journ. f. Orn. 1866, p. 5. § Cf. Ibis, 1872, p. 93. |
