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Show 1873.] LORD WALDEN ON PHILIPPINE BIRDS. 521 disposal, it was my original intention to confine myself to a bare catalogue of its contents ; but, it having been suggested to m e that a complete list of the known Philippine * birds would prove more generally useful, and would supply a want much felt in the ornithological literature of the Indian region, I have ventured, with much diffidence, to prepare this catalogue of authentic Philippine birds. It is true that a valuable list of the Philippine birds has already been published in 1866 by Dr. Eduard v. Martens t, from which I have derived the greatest assistance ; still in it several authentic species are omitted, in some instances titles belonging to the same are treated as belonging to distinct species, and moreover some new species have been discovered and described since Dr. v. Martens wrote. Nor in the somewhat intricate synonymy is the subject in all instances exhaustively dealt with ; and it has been one of m y objects to endeavour to fix on a firm basis the nomenclature of all the birds known to possess a Philippine origin. " The literature of the subject practically commenced with Brisson %, who in his well known work published original descriptions of many species said to have been obtained in the Philippines. Most of these are true Philippine species; but several of them were obtained in other parts of the world, and have no claim to a Philippine habitat. " The next, and certainly the most important, writer was the * I restrict the Philippines to that group of islands which is separated from Northern Borneo by the Balabac Strait and the Sea of Mindoro, exclusive of the Sooloo archipelago, and from Celebes by the Sea of Celebes. It may be necessary, when the fauna of the Sooloo archipelago is better known, to include it also within the Philippine area ; but, on the other hand, when the fauna of the island of Palawan has been investigated, that may have to be separated from the Philippine area. The positions both of Palawan and of the Sooloo Islands (at present all but zoological blanks) are of the highest geograj)hical interest; for Palawan, stretching out for 260 miles, unites the northernmost point of Borneo to Luzon through the Calamines, and the island of Mindoro and the islands of the Sooloo archipelago form a succession of connecting links between Mindanao and the most north-east point of Borneo. t Journ. f. Orn. 1866, pp. 8-31. j N o titles were founded on the Jesuit Camel's well-known paper, "De Avibus Philippensibus." The following is a list of the principal authors who have written on Philippine ornithology :- BRISSON, M . J. Ornithologia (1760). SONNERAT. Voy. a la Nouvelle Guinee (1776). V. KITTLITZ. Memoires presentes a PAcad. Imp. Sc. de St. Petersb. vol. ii. (1833). Kupfertafeln z. Naturgesch. d. Vogel (1832-33). Liitke, Voy. autour du Monde (Postels), vol. iii. (1836). VIGORS. P. Z. S. 1831. J. F. M E Y E N . Nov. Act. C. L. C. Nat. Cur. vol. xvi. suppl. prim. (1834). E Y D O U X et SOULEYET. Voy. autour du Monde sur la Bonite. Zoologie, vol. i. (1841). PEALE. Zool. Un. St. Exp. Exped. Vincennes, 1st edition (1848). JACQUINOT & PUCHERAN. Voy. au Pole Sud, l'Astrolabe et la Zelee. Zoologie, vol. iii. (1853). CASSIN. Unit. St. Exp. Exped. Vincennes. Ornith. 2nd edition (1858). E. v. M A R T E N S . Preussische Exped. nach Ost-Asien. Zool. (1805). Journal fiir Ornithologie (1866). W A L D E N & LAYARD. Ibis, 1871, p. 93. |