Part 297

Very full references to literature may be found in Catalogue of the Birds in the British Museum and in Catalogue of the Collection of Birds' Eggs in the British Museum (Natural History).

Sharpe, R. B.: A Hand-List of the Genera and Species of Birds. London (1899-1903), 1-4, Vol. 5 in press.

For other systems of classification the following may be consulted:

Huxley, T. H.: On the Classification of Birds; and on the Taxonomic Value of the Modifications of Certain of the Cranial Bones observable in that Class. Proc. Zool. Soc. London (1867), 415-472. Stejneger, L.: Standard Natural History. Boston (1885), 4, Birds (part). An outline of Stejneger's scheme of classification may be found in the Zoological Record (1885), 22, pt. Aves. 14-18. Fürbringer, M.: Untersuchungen zur Morphologie und Systematik der Vogel, Zugleich ein Beitrage zur Anatomie der Stütz- und Bewegungsorgane. Royal Zoological Society, Amsterdam (1888). For reviews of Fürbringer's classification see Gadow, Nature (1888), 39, 150-152; 177-181, and Evans, Zool. Record, Aves (1888), 25, 14-16. Evans, A. H.: Cambridge Natural History, Birds. New York and London (1900), 9, XI-XVI (Scheme of Classification). Gadow, H.: On the Classification of Birds. Proc. Zool. Soc. London (1892), 229-256. Dubois, A.: Synopsis Avium. Brussels (1899-1904), 1-1339, pls. 1-16. Ridgway, R.: The Birds of North and Middle America. Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus. Washington (1901), No. 50, pt. 1, 1-12. Clark, H. L.: The Classification of Birds. Auk (1901), new ser., 18, 370-381. Shufeldt, R. W.: An Arrangement of the Families and Higher Groups of Birds. Am. Naturalist (1904), 38, 833-857.

It is a matter of difficulty to distinguish between the soft short tail-feathers and the long, overhanging coverts; in this species, therefore, it is more convenient to measure from base of tail to tip of longest covert.

The status of Gallus stramineicollis, described from a specimen collected in Sulu by Burbidge, is somewhat doubtful; Grant considers it a domestic bird. The original description follows:

"General color above black, shot with green and purple; wing-coverts like the back, the innermost and the scapulars with a slight subterminal shine of coppery brown; primary-coverts and primaries black, the secondaries externally green; feathers of the lower back and rump straw-yellow, with darker longitudinal centers of black or green; upper tail-coverts and tail glossy oil-green; crown of head and nape black; hind-neck and neck-hackles, as well as sides of neck, straw-yellow, deeper on the hind-neck, with green longitudinal centers to the feathers; remainder of under surface of body black with a green gloss; comb short and rounded; sides of face and entire throat bare. Total length 34.5 inches [876 mm.], culmen 1.1 , wing 9.0 , tail 17.5 , tarsus 3.4 ."

Birds from some of these localities may be M. langhornei.

It is possible that all the records of Ptilocolpa for Mindanao should be referred to P. mindanensis.

Whitehead's diagnosis is as follows: "Similis P. griseipectori (Bp.), sed plaga præpectorali nigra, nec cinerea, facile distinguenda. Long. tot. 13.0 poll., alæ 8.3, caudæ 4.8, tarsi 0.85."

The order Colymbiformes as used here is equivalent to order VIII Podicipedidiformes of Sharpe's Hand-List and not order IX Colymbiformes of that work. Tachybaptus Reichenbach is to be used for the genus or subgenus Podiceps Latham. Cf. Stone, Auk (1907), 24, 190; Allen, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. (1907), 24, 24.

Mr. W. Eagle Clarke informs me that he has received a specimen of the Philippine grebe from Panay.

As the Bureau of Science collection contains very few specimens belonging to the order Lariformes and as these are winter specimens only, the greater part of the specific descriptions of Philippine gulls and terns are copied from Saunders's excellent work, in volume 25 of the Catalogue of Birds in the British Museum.

Cf. Bureau, Bull. Soc. Sci. Nat. Ouest France (1904), 14, 227-256.

While I have examined specimens of nearly all the species in this order which are known to occur in the Philippine Islands the material available to me is unsatisfactory as a basis for specific descriptions. This is due to the fact that most of the species under consideration are migrants and can be taken in the Philippines in non-breeding plumage only. Rather than present descriptions based upon inadequate material I have included here numerous quotations from Sharpe's monograph of the Limicolæ (Catalogue of Birds in the British Museum, volume 24) and from other standard works.

The Ticao specimen was listed as Numenius arquata, McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List, p. 24; it is really a specimen of N. variegatus.

"Ocrophus" is said to be a misprint.

Cf. Allen, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. (1907), 24, 20.

See also footnote under Ixobrychus cinnamomeus, p. 179.

Cf. Allen, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. (1907), 24, 36.

Stejneger, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. Wash. (1887), 10, 289, places this species in his subgenus Nannocnus and gives the following key:

a1. Tibiæ feathered nearly to the heel-joint; longest tail-feathers longer than middle toe without claw (Ardetta). ... A. sinensis a2. Tibiæ naked at the lower end, longest tail-feathers shorter than middle toe without claw (Nannocnus).

b1. Quills and tail-feathers blackish. ... A. eurhythma b2. Quills and tail-feathers cinnamon-rufous. ... A. cinnamomea

The characters of Nannocnus seem to be, as stated by Stejneger, of no more than subgeneric value.

All of the species of ducks here enumerated, except Marila marila, are represented in the Bureau of Science collection by specimens taken in the Philippine Islands, but with the exception of the abundant Dendrocygna arcuata these are adults only, in winter plumage. I have constructed keys and diagnoses from this material but for detailed descriptions I have depended almost entirely upon Salvadori's monograph in volume 27 of the Catalogue of Birds in the British Museum.

The white-faced tree duck, Dendrocygna viduata (Linnæus), has been recorded as a Philippine species; I believe it should be omitted from our list.

Mr. W. Eagle Clarke informs us that he has received a specimen of this duck from Negros.

The Phæthontidæ have the nostrils open and the interramal space feathered. No member of this family has been reported from the Philippine Islands.