PREFACE.
During several years spent in collecting zoölogical specimens in the Philippine Islands the author has constantly experienced the need of a book containing descriptions of the Philippine birds. That others have felt the same want is evident from the many requests for literature received. Lists of Philippine birds[1] have been published from time to time but they contain no descriptions and are of use to those only who have a considerable library at hand.
The Catalogue of Birds in the British Museum contains descriptions of most of the known species of birds and these include very many of the Philippine species but the bulk of its 27 volumes would preclude the use of this work in the field even if its rarity and cost were not prohibitory. Thus there is an almost total lack of adequate means for identifying Philippine birds which has been a serious check to activity and interest in ornithological work throughout the Islands.
To meet this need and to place descriptions of the birds inhabiting the Philippines in a convenient form for the use of local naturalists the present work has been prepared. Technical terms and references to internal structure have been avoided as far as possible although this method weakens, to some extent, the keys and diagnoses of the higher groups. The diagnoses of orders, families, and genera being drawn from Philippine species may or may not define these groups as represented outside of the Archipelago.
The actual material which has been available for study consists of about 8,000 specimens of birds collected for the Bureau of Science, a few skins received in exchange from the Menage Collection, nearly 200 skins received from the United States National Museum, part in exchange and part as a loan, and a few small lots of skins from various sources. There are, however, some 150 species inhabiting the Philippines of which not a single specimen has been examined. Of some other species the available material is quite inadequate for complete descriptions; this is particularly true of the shore and water birds, most of which visit the Philippine Islands as migrants and can not be obtained here in breeding plumage.
To meet these deficiencies a large number of descriptions have been taken from previous works, notably the Catalogue of Birds in the British Museum, Oates’s Birds of British Burmah, and the four volumes on birds in the Fauna of British India, while a few have been taken from periodicals. All copied descriptions and parts of descriptions are inclosed in quotation marks followed by the authors’ names; the exact reference in each case will be found in the synonymy of the species described.
The quotations ending with “Bourns and Worcester MS.” are taken from a manuscript prepared by Messrs. Frank S. Bourns and Dean C. Worcester and based upon the ornithological specimens collected by the Menage Expedition. This manuscript was intended for publication by the Minnesota Academy of Natural Sciences, but as that institution was unable to meet the necessary expense, the right to use the manuscript reverted to the authors who have permitted the publication of their notes in this Manual.
The scientific name, an English name, and such native names as seem to be commonly used with some degree of accuracy are given for each species.
The synonymy consists of references to original descriptions and to all works from which quotations are made; also to the following works when the species is given in them: Catalogue of Birds in the British Museum, Sharpe’s Hand-List of the Genera and Species of Birds, Oates and Reid’s Catalogue of Birds’ Eggs in the British Museum, and McGregor and Worcester’s Hand-List of Philippine Birds; other references are to plates or figures, records of rare species, important descriptions, notes on habits, or critical remarks.[2]