Part 132

Bantayan (McGregor); Basilan (Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester); Bazol (Everett); Bohol (Everett, McGregor); Cebu (Murray, Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester, McGregor); Guimaras (Steere Exp.); Leyte (Everett); Luzon (Meyer, Everett, Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester, Whitehead, McGregor); Masbate (Bourns & Worcester); Mindanao (Steere, Murray, Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester); Mindoro (McGregor); Negros (Meyer, Steere, Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester, Keay); Panay (Steere, Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester); Samar (Bourns & Worcester); Sibuyan (McGregor); Siquijor (Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester, Celestino); Sulu (Bourns & Worcester); Tawi Tawi (Bourns & Worcester). Malay and Indian Peninsulas, Indo-Chinese Provinces, Ceylon, Celebes, Malayan islands.

Adult (sexes alike).--Above dark green mixed with a little dull chestnut; occasional touches of blue on head; rump and upper tail-coverts cerulean-blue; a narrow line of blue across forehead, ending on each side over posterior border of eye; a broad black band from nostril through eye to and including ear-coverts; chin light yellow; a wide chestnut band on throat; breast, sides, and abdomen green, mixed with ocherous-buff and touches of pale greenish blue; vent and under tail-coverts delicate sky-blue; wings and tail nearly as in Merops americanus. Iris red; bill, legs, and nails black. Length, with a full-grown tail, about 305. Measurements of three males from Luzon: Wing, 126 to 133; tail, without central pair of feathers, 89 to 93; bill from nostril, 35 to 36. Three females from Luzon: Wing, 124 to 125; tail, without long feathers, 89 to 91; bill from nostril, 31 to 33.

Young.--"Much duller in color generally, with the blue tail and rump of the adult, but without the blue eyebrow, this being replaced by a little lighter green shade than on the crown; cheeks pale green; throat pale brownish." (Sharpe.)

"We can not agree with Dr. Steere that M. philippinus feeds only singly or in pairs, having repeatedly seen it feeding in large flocks, and even in company with M. americanus.

"Iris red; legs and feet dark brown; nails and bill black. Six males average, 255 in length; wing, 122; tail, 94; culmen, 36; tarsus, 11; middle toe with claw, 20. Eight females, length, 240; wing, 124; tail, 94; culmen, 35; tarsus, 11; middle toe with claw, 18." (Bourns and Worcester MS.)

Suborder CAPRIMULGI.

Ten primaries and ten rectrices; wing long and pointed; gape very wide; bill small and weak; legs and feet moderate and rather weak; middle toe-nail pectinate; toes with slight webs at base; plumage soft and mottled; in habits crepuscular and probably nocturnal, feeding largely on moths and large beetles. The two mottled eggs are deposited on the bare ground.

Family CAPRIMULGIDÆ.

Characters same as those given for the Suborder.

Subfamily CAPRIMULGINÆ.

Genera.

a1. Rictus without conspicuous bristles; feathers on sides of occiput elongated, forming ear-tufts; larger, wing more than 250 mm. ... Lyncornis (p. 342) a2. Rictus armed with strong bristles; no elongated feathers on head; smaller, wing less than 230 mm. ... Caprimulgus (p. 344)

Genus LYNCORNIS Gould, 1838.

Similar to Caprimulgus but rictal bristles wanting; a conspicuous ear-tuft on each side of head; no large white spot on primaries.

305. LYNCORNIS MACROTIS (Vigors).

PHILIPPINE EARED NIGHTJAR.

Caprimulgus macrotis Vigors, Proc. Zool. Soc. (1831), 97. Lyncornis mindanensis Tweeddale, Proc. Zool. Soc. (1878), 945. Lyncornis macrotis Hartert, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1892), 16, 605; Grant, Ibis (1894), 519; Whitehead, Ibis (1899), 383; Sharpe, Hand-List (1900), 2, 81; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 57; McGregor, Phil. Jour. Sci. (1907), 2, sec. A, 284.

Basilan (Bourns & Worcester, Celestino); Luzon (Lindsay, Möllendorff, Steere Exp., Whitehead, Celestino); Mindanao (Everett, Celestino); Mindoro (McGregor, Porter).

Adult (sexes alike).--Head light chocolate-brown, very finely vermiculated with gray and buff; along middle of head and on ear-tufts a number of large black spots; lower feathers of ear-tufts pure black; a rusty collar on neck continued on sides of neck and connected with the white spot on each side of throat; sides of face and ear-coverts black, vermiculated with cinnamon; wings, coverts, and back variously mottled and splotched with black, ocherous-buff, and cinnamon; scapulars with large black terminal spots; primaries, secondaries, and lesser coverts black with dark cinnamon vermiculations; a few of the median coverts with buff spots on tips; rectrices black with a few irregular mottled bars of dark buff; feathers of lower parts black, on chin and crop with narrow cross-lines of cinnamon, on breast tipped with wide bands of dark buff, on abdomen and sides tipped with narrower bands of light buff; under tail-coverts largely buff with irregular black cross-lines. "Iris brown; bill clear brown, tip black; feet clear brown, their scales darker brown." (Celestino.)

Length of a male from Mindoro, 348; wing, 275; tail, 170; exposed culmen, 10; tarsus, 18; middle toe with claw, 29. Length of a female from Bataan Province, Luzon, 368; wing, 290; tail, 180; exposed culmen, 9; tarsus, 17; middle toe with claw, 29.

The crown is often largely rufous, again it may be ochraceous and the variations involve other portions of the plumage. The bars of the tail are variable, sometimes fairly regular and at other times much broken.

"We obtained a single male specimen of this fine goatsucker in Basilan. Iris very dark brown; bill black at tip, lighter at base; eyelids black; legs flesh-color, shading to dark brown on the toes; nails dirty grayish. Length, 343; wing, 276; tail, 223; tarsus, 16; middle toe with claw, 29; culmen, 13." (Bourns and Worcester MS.)

"If these two forms [L. macrotis and L. mindanensis], the types of which are before me, are really distinct species, then both occur in north Luzon, for out of four specimens of Lyncornis sent by Mr. Whitehead, three are typical L. macrotis, perfectly similar to Vigors's bird, and the fourth agrees perfectly with Tweeddale's types of L. mindanensis. Personally I am inclined to believe that the latter are merely younger examples of the same species. The darker head and shorter wing may be characteristic of youth, as it seems unlikely two closely allied forms should occur in the same locality." (Grant.)

Whitehead thus describes the habits of this species: "Fairly common in the lower valleys in the mountainous districts of north Luzon. This species has the pretty habit of its Malay cousin L. temmincki. Just at the last moment of the tropical day, when the highest heavens are tinged with the soft light of the setting sun, Lyncornis leaves its bed among the dead leaves and grass and flies high into the air, rising and descending with vertically held wings, uttering every now and then its pretty whistle, 'tet-a-bow, tet-a-bow.' But soon when the last rays have ceased to gild the sky, it descends to mother earth to feed on winged insects, its pretty note being then exchanged for a frog-like croak. Toward sunrise Lyncornis once more rises to the heavens and utters the same 'tet-a-bow,' but it shortly dives to the ground, and rests unseen until the evening light again tempts it from its concealment."

Genus CAPRIMULGUS Linnæus, 1758.

Wings long and pointed, first primary shorter than second; rictal bristles conspicuous, no ear-tufts on sides of head; males generally distinguished by having large white spots on wings and tail.

Species.

MALES.