Part 195

Pseudolalage melanoleuca Blyth, Jour. As. Soc. Bengal (1861), 30, 97; Walden, Trans. Zool. Soc. (1875), 9, 178, pl. 29, fig. 2. Lalage melanoleuca Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1879), 4, 91, 471; Hand-List (1901), 3, 303; Whitehead, Ibis (1899), 103 (habits); McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 78.

Luzon (Martens, Heriot, Everett, Whitehead, Steere Exp.); Mindoro (Steere Exp., McGregor); Semirara (Worcester).

Male.--Forehead, crown, sides of head to lower border of eye, hind neck, and mantle black, glossed with green; lower back, rump, and tail-coverts white, the back grayish; entire under parts white; wings and tail black, glossed with green; inner secondaries and greater coverts with wide edges of white; inner median coverts entirely white; quills, except first primary, edged with white on inner web; two outermost pairs of rectrices tipped with white. Length, about 210. A male from Mindoro measures: Wing, 119; tail, 90; culmen from base, 21; bill from nostril, 14; tarsus, 23.

Female.--Above light ashy gray, nearly white on tail-coverts; feathers of head and mantle with dusky shaft-lines; below white; breast obscurely barred with gray; thighs gray with darker shaft-lines; wings and tail as in the male but with less white on median coverts. A female from Mindoro, wing, 112; tail, 85; culmen from base, 21; bill from nostril, 14.5; tarsus, 23.

466. LALAGE MINOR (Steere).

STEERE'S LALAGE.

Pseudolalage minor Steere, List Birds & Mams. Steere Exped. (1890), 15. Lalage minor Whitehead, Ibis (1899), 103; Sharpe, Hand-List (1901), 3, 303; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 78.

Leyte (Whitehead); Mindanao (Steere Exp., Celestino); Samar (Bourns & Worcester, Whitehead).

Male.--In color exactly like the male of L. melanoleuca, but distinguished by its smaller size. Length, about 200. A male from northern Mindanao measures: Wing, 104; tail, 81; culmen from base, 21; bill from nostril, 15; tarsus, 20.

Female.--Differs from the female of L. melanoleuca in having the chin, throat, and breast plumbeous gray with somewhat obscure gray bars.

"Steere's lalage is not very common; a pair shot in Samar had been feeding on fruit and insects. Iris dark brown; legs, feet, and nails black; upper mandible black, lower nearly so. The male measures, 197 in length; wing, 107; tail, 81; culmen, 25; tarsus, 22; middle toe with claw, 21. A female, length, 203; wing, 106; tail, 82; culmen, 26; tarsus, 24; middle toe with claw, 18." (Bourns and Worcester MS.)

467. LALAGE NIGER (Forster).

PIED LALAGE.

Turdus dominicus (not of Linnæus, 1766) P. L. S. Müller, Natursyst. Suppl. (1776), 145. Turdus niger Forster, Ind. Zool. (1781), 41. Turdus terat Boddaert, Tabl. Pl. Enl. (1783), pl. 17. Lalage terat Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1879), 4, 95; Hand-List (1901), 3, 303; Whitehead, Ibis (1899), 104; Oates and Reid, Cat. Birds' Eggs (1903), 3, 300. Lalage niger McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 78.

Ca-hu-raó hu-raó, Ticao; sa-lac-sá-can, Cagayancillo; bu-ga-ung-ón, Siquijor; ibong-pá-re, Manila.

Bantayan (McGregor); Banton (Celestino); Basilan (Everett, Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester, McGregor); Bohol (Everett, McGregor); Cagayancillo (McGregor); Cagayan Sulu (Guillemard, McGregor); Calamianes (Bourns & Worcester); Caluya (Porter); Catanduanes (Whitehead); Cebu (Meyer, Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester, McGregor); Cuyo (McGregor); Guimaras (Meyer, Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester); Leyte (Everett); Lubang (McGregor); Luzon (Everett, Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester, Whitehead, McGregor); Marinduque (Steere Exp.); Masbate (McGregor); Mindanao (Steere, Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester, Celestino); Mindoro (Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester, McGregor); Negros (Everett, Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester, Whitehead, Keay); Palawan (Bourns & Worcester); Panay (Murray, Steere, Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester); Romblon (Bourns & Worcester); Sibay (McGregor & Worcester); Sibuyan (Bourns & Worcester, McGregor); Siquijor (Bourns & Worcester, Celestino); Sulu (Guillemard, Bourns & Worcester); Tablas (Bourns & Worcester); Ticao (McGregor). Malay Peninsula, Nicobar Islands, Sumatra, Java, Borneo.

Male.--Very similar to L. melanoleuca, but much smaller and with a broad white line from forehead over eye to nape. Length, about 180; other measurements from a male taken in Bohol are: Wing, 92; tail, 73; culmen from base, 18; bill from nostril, 11; tarsus, 19.

The immature male resembles the adult female.

Female.--Differs from the male in having the upper surface bluish gray with blackish shaft-lines, the white band over eye less distinct, and the breast, sides, and flanks closely barred with narrow gray lines. A female from Bohol measures: Wing, 92; tail, 72; culmen from base, 17; bill from nostril, 12; tarsus, 20.

Nestling.--Two nestlings from Banton, June 30, 1905, have the feathers of upper parts dark ashy brown with wide tips of light earthy buff; under parts white with spots and longitudinal lines of blackish brown, the wings are similar to those of the adult, but the white areas are washed with buff.

The pied lalage is widely distributed and abundant; the other two Philippine species are comparatively rare.

Family PYCNONOTIDÆ.

Bill slender and compressed; culmen gently curved and having a decided keel; a notch near the tip of upper mandible and, in some genera, another notch near tip of lower mandible; nostrils pierced in the anterior part of a membrane the base of which may be covered with short plumes, but the nostrils always exposed except in Irena; wing longer than tail; first primary little more than one-half the second, the latter shorter than third; fourth and fifth usually forming the tip of the wing; tail square, or slightly rounded, rarely decidedly graduate; tarsus short, nearly always less than culmen from base, and seldom greater than middle toe with claw. In some genera there are a number of hairs springing from the nape, but these are not greatly developed, except in Irena and Trichophorus.

Genera.

a1. A tuft of long white silky feathers on each side of lower breast; primaries exceeding the secondaries by less than one-half the tarsus; colors yellow and black. ... Ægithina (p. 497) a2. No tuft of long silky feathers on side of breast; primaries exceeding the secondaries by more than one-half the tarsus.

b1. Primaries exceeding the secondaries by less than the length of tarsus.

c1. Tail-coverts very long, nearly two-thirds as long as the tail; colors black and yellow, tail tipped with yellow. ... Microtarsus (p. 513) c2. Tail-coverts shorter, equal to less than two-thirds of tail.

d1. Hairs on nape short or wanting; if present, less than the tarsus in length.