Delgado (_ut supra_) describes the pogos as certain small gray birds, very similar to the sparrows in Spain. They are very greedy, and if undisturbed would totally destroy the rice-fields. Their scientific name is _Excalfactoria chinensis_ (Linn.). [83] Stanley conjectures that this word is a misprint for _maynelas_, a diminutive of _maina_, a talking bird. Delgado (_ut supra_) describes a bird called _maya_ (_Munia jagori_--Cab.; _Ploceus baya_--Blyth.; and _Ploceus hypoxantha_--Tand.), which resembles the pogo, being smaller and of a cinnamon color, which pipes and has an agreeable song. [84] Stanley translates this as "wild ducks." Delgado (_ut supra_) describes a bird called _lapay_ (_Dendrocygna vagans_--Eyton.), as similar to the duck in body, but with larger feet, which always lives in the water, and whose flesh is edible. [85] For descriptions of the birds in the Philippines, see Delgado (_ut supra_) book v, part i, 1st treatise, pp. 813-853; _Report_ of U.S. Philippine Commission, 1900, iii, pp. 312-316; and _Gazetteer of the Philippine Islands_ (Washington, 1902), pp. 170, 171. There are more than five hundred and ninety species of birds in the islands, of which three hundred and twenty-five are peculiar to the archipelago, and largely land birds. There are thirty-five varieties of doves and pigeons, all edible. [86] There are now domestic rabbits, and plenty of peacocks.--_Rizal_. [87] Doubtless the python, which is often domesticated in the Philippines. See _Vol_. XII, p. 259, note 73. [88] La Gironiere (_Twenty Years in the Philippines_--trans. from French, London, 1853) describes an interesting fight with a huge crocodile near his settlement of Jala-Jala. The natives begged for the flesh in order to dry it and use it as a specific against asthma, as they believed that any asthmatic person who lived on the flesh for a certain time would be infallibly cured. Another native wished the fat as an antidote for rheumatic pain. The head of this huge reptile was presented to an American, who in turn presented it to the Boston Museum. Unfortunately La Gironiere's picturesque descriptions must often be taken with a grain of salt. For some information regarding the reptiles of the islands see _Report_ of U.S. Philippine Commission, 1900, iii, pp. 317-319. [89] Unless we are mistaken, there is a fish in the Filipinas called _Pampano_.--_Rizal_. [90] For catalogue and scientific description of the mollusks of the Philippines, see the work of Joaquin Gonzalez Hidalgo--now (1904) in course of publication by the Real Academia de Ciencias of Madrid--_Estudios preliminares sobre la fauna malacologica de las Islas Filipinas._ [91] The Rio Grande.--_Rizal_. [92] No fish is known answering to this description.--_Stanley_. [93] The island of Talim.--_Rizal_. [94] Retana thinks (Zuniga, ii, p. 545*) that this device was introduced among the Filipinos by the Borneans. [95] A species of fishing-net. Stanley's conjecture is wrong.