The San Francisco call., 1906-11-11
By Hamilton Wright.


NAL and flower life, the Philip
pines present a never-ending
charm. The species OF birds are
SO brilliant and varied, the appearance
and habits of the animals so strange.
and the fora SO huge so splendidlv
colored and so overwhelming that one
feels the constant pleasure of being
IN a land where all is delight TO the
eye.
Often in these islands have I seen
singular birds. Huge pigeons, as large
as barnyard fowl and heavier, COO to
their mates from the lofty SUBMITS
Of giant trees; doves OF alluring and
sparkling cOlors. rivaling those of a
macaw or pheasant, fly swiftly
through the dense foliage, sending
forth after reaching the shelter OF
their resting place their melancholy
plant Jungle fowl hardly to be dis
tinguished from our gamecocks fit
like shadows across the trails; great
enormous red bills eight or nine inches
long. and often several inches in di-
ameter, set the forest ringing with
their thin, hoarse roaring.
At first hearing the timorous man
might take this roaring for that of a
wild beast, so unlike the call Of a bird
IS the note of the mysterious and
OF the oldest known, and a member of
Il is about as near a prehistoric bird
as any in the world. The caIlao is
called the hour bird by the natives,
because it is believed to cry-of the
hours OF day. The reason for this be-
lief is probably found in the fact that
the bird visits different parts OF the
forest at the same periods of each day.
and when alighting upon a tree gives
q harsh, bleating call. The callaos are
fruit-eating birds and their bills are
wonderfully adapted for cutting soft
fruit, being large and sharp. There is
q remarkable variation in the shape
and size Of the birds the ordinary
callao being so different when young
from what he is when old that the
natives insist that it is a different
species. The common callao is of a
creamy color In detail the bird has
g black back and head, snow white
tail and a bronze or golden coIored
neck This bird is said to resemble
the famous hornbill family of South
America, and there are twelve species
known to the Philippines The male
bird plasters UP the female in the nest
with mud Just as the hornbill does and
then feeds her, in which act he looks
very much like a woodpecker pecking
ct a tree. The young birds are fat
and are considered very good eating.
Huge uit-Eating Bats.
Besides the callao there are huge
fruit-eating bats, whose spread OF
membrane equals that OF an eagles
wings. which hy by night in countless
thousands toward some great natural
forest orchard. There are quail too,
some Of them as small as the English
sparrow; ducks herons and brant OF
familiar and unknown types, which
crowd unexplored lsgoons in vast
focks. Everything is wild. shy and
easily startled. Even domestic fowl
have caught the note Of wildness. and
IN the Igorrote country ] have seen
tame hen. a speckled Biddy desert her
brood and fly five hundred feet across
g canyon At my approach.
Among the remarkable new discov-
cries in the Philippines is the great
naango-esting eagle This bird is pc
culiar TO these islands and is similar
10 the mighty eagle of South America.
II is even larger than the bald headed
eagle, as it weighs more than twenty
pounds.
To get some accurate information on
the rare birds Of the Philippines I re-
Gently interviewed Major Edgar A.
Nearns, a surgeon in the United States
army For thirty years Major Mearns
has made a study OF rare fauna and
fora. He has discovered many new
specimens and was for some years
actively connected with the Smith
sonian Institution.
''The Philippines said Major Mearrs.
contain fauna, birds and animals
which do not. so far as is known, exist
anywhere else in the world. They were
probably driven down by the advance
of the glaciers and escaped to the
mountains on account Of their more
congenial temperature. As the glaciers
receded the birds would descend from
4a4fa s1rst- to TO-
climes which suited them and remain
there.
The islands have been subject to
many remarkable volcanic and glacial
changes. AS a consequence they have
many varied fauna We have two dis
tinct fauna on the two islands Of Luzon
and Mindanao. These islands are near
together and in any other part of the
world they would have the same birds;
but it is true that you will find a
great many distinct forms of bird life
in Mindsnao which are not found in
Luzon.
ION the top OF Mount Apo, spout
ing volcano in the Davas region Of
Aindanao, we discovered six new spe-
cies and five new genera Among these
were seventeen new nlammalia. Down
in the Davas district, at the foot of
ADO, I discovered one new monkey
and two insectivorous animals looking
like moles. One was a kangaroo
shaped animal and was a great jumper.
The other was mole that climbs trees;
he had a big. bushy tail. The eyes
Of both the semoles were well devel-
oped.
The great changes of the earth"
continued Major Mearns, the result OF
volcanic eruptions. which brought the
bottom Of the sea up In the form OF
islands in the sea. affect the distribu-
ton of birds and animals. All the