Part 216

Mindanao (Mearns, Goodfellow).

Adult.--This species is almost exactly like P. thomassoni in colors, but is considerably smaller in size. A male collected by Mearns measures: Length, 246; wing, 110; tail, 94; culmen from base, 21; bill from nostril, 13; tarsus, 31.

A female, wing, 110; tail, 89; culmen from base, 20; bill from nostril, 12; tarsus, 30.

528. PLANESTICUS NIGRORUM (Grant).

NEGROS BLACK THRUSH.

Turdus nigrorum Grant, Ibis (1896), 544; Grant and Whitehead, Ibis (1898), 238, pl. 5, figs. 8 and 9 (eggs); Whitehead, Ibis (1899), 213 (nest). Merula nigrorum Sharpe, Hand-List (1903), 4, 119; Oates and Reid, Cat. Birds' Eggs (1905), 4, pl. 5, fig. 18; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 83.

Negros (Whitehead).

"Adult male and female.--Above rich dark umber, darkest on the top of the head; wings and tail brownish black; chin, throat, and chest pale sooty brown, rather lighter on the breast, flanks, and belly; a band of white feathers across the vent; under tail-coverts dark brown, with pale whitish-brown tips. Bill and feet yellow. Male: Length, 241; wing, 124; tail, 96.5; tarsus, 34. Female: Length, 223.5; wing, 119; tail, 91; tarsus, 31.5.

"An immature male has the upper parts much like those of the adult, but the feathers of the back have indistinct margins of darker color, the chin and middle of the throat are buff, and the breast and under parts spotted with black and washed with rufous, shading into tawny buff on the middle of the belly.

"The Negros blackbird is resident on the volcano of Canloon at an altitude of from 1,600 to 2,000 meters, and both young birds and eggs were obtained." (Grant.)

A nest containing two "much incubated" eggs was taken by Whitehead on April 12, 1896, and another nest with two young birds was found on the 21st of the same month. The eggs are described as follows: "Shape ovate. Ground-color very pale green; one egg very thickly mottled with brick-red, almost hiding the ground-color; the second blotched toward the larger end and more thinly marked over the rest of the shell showing the very pale red-lilac clouded under-markings. As compared with eggs of the common blackbird, the above are very much redder, and closely resemble those of Turdus simillimus." (Grant and Whitehead.)

529. PLANESTICUS MALINDANGENSIS (Mearns).

MALINDANG BLACK THRUSH.

Merula malindangensis Mearns, Phil. Jour. Sci. (1907), 2, sec. A, 357.

Mindanao (Mearns).

"Characters.--Largest of the Philippine species of Merula. Breast and under side of neck light drab-gray, a darker shade of this color extending to the throat and chin and forming an indistinct collar around the hind neck; middle of abdomen and crissum nearly white; mantle, back, rump, and upper tail-coverts light sooty-brown; wings and tail dark sooty-brown.

"Adult male.--Upper side of head, mantle, back, rump, and upper tail-coverts light sooty-brown; flanks slightly paler and browner; wings and tail dark sooty-brown, more fuliginous on under surface; chest and under side of neck light drab-gray, a darker shade of this color encircling the neck and extending to the chin and throat, where the feathers have dark shaft-streaks; sides of head pale sooty-brown; feathers of the median area from chest to crissum, with broad, white edges and a dark central area inclosing a sagittate white spot, giving a spotted appearance to the middle of the under surface of the body; crissum with this light area expanded and practically all white; under tail-coverts sooty-brown, longitudinally striped with white or pale buff.

"Adult female.--Similar to the male but slightly smaller and dingier in color with a slight rufescence on sides of lower breast and flanks.

"Immature male.--Sides of lower chest and flanks more strongly washed with raw-umber than in adult females; chest and throat darker.

"First plumage (male).--Upper surface dusky, washed with raw-umber, especially on the head, neck, upper back, and wing-coverts; scapulars with pale rusty shaft-streaks, and some of the lesser wing-coverts edged with the same; under surface sepia-brown strongly mixed with reddish brown and spotted with brownish black, the rufescence covering the middle of the throat and much of the chest, the blackish cordate spots being confined to the tips and the rusty bands crossing the middle of the feathers; whitish median stripe distinct but with pale rufescent edging to the feathers except on lower abdomen; under tail-coverts sepia-brown with rusty edging and broad, white, median stripes.

"In other specimens taken at the same season, the molt was nearly finished, leaving a few feathers with rusty bands and black spots and with a stronger rusty washing to the flanks than in adults." (Mearns.)

Genus TURDUS Linnæus, 1758.

Rictal bristles weak, less than bill from nostril; wing strong, flat, and pointed; third, fourth, and fifth primaries emarginate on outer webs; first primary very short, less than primary-coverts; tail nearly square; tarsus slightly less than one-third of tail and about equal to middle toe with claw. Upper parts olive-brown, russet-brown, or gray; chin and throat light with dusky streaks; chest, sides, and flanks dull chestnut or gray; crissum and middle of breast and abdomen white. This color pattern is characteristic of the three migratory species which have been found in the Philippine Islands.

Species.

a1. Without a white superciliary stripe.

b1. Chest, sides, and flanks gray or drab-gray ... pallidus (p. 547) b2. Chest, sides, and flanks chestnut ... chrysolaus (p. 548)

a2. With a well-marked, white, superciliary stripe extending from above lores to above ear-coverts ... obscurus (p. 549)

530. TURDUS PALLIDUS Gmelin.