Part 287

Co-ling, Mindoro; i-ling, Ticao; sa-ling, Masbate; co-le-to, Manila.

Basilan (Everett, Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester, McGregor); Bongao (Everett); Guimaras (Meyer, Steere Exp.); Libagao (Porter); Lubang (McGregor); northern Luzon (Cuming, Kittlitz, Everett, Steere Exp., Whitehead, McGregor); Maestre de Campo (McGregor & Worcester); Marinduque (Steere Exp.); Mindanao (Everett, Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester); Mindoro (Steere Exp., Schmacker, Bourns & Worcester, Everett, McGregor); Papahag (Bartsch); Semirara (McGregor & Worcester); Sibay (McGregor & Worcester); Sibutu (Low, Everett); Sulu (Guillemard, Bourns & Worcester); Tablas (Bourns & Worcester); Tawi Tawi (Bourns & Worcester); Verde (McGregor).

Adult (sexes alike).--Forehead, lores, face, vertical line, and a narrow band on occiput black; wings and tail black; sides of neck, mantle, back, rump, and tail-coverts silvery gray; under parts black; a patch on each side of chest pure white; flanks silvery white; in some specimens the throat is marked with fine white lines. Iris pinkish; bill, legs, feet, and nails black. Length, 265 to 290. A male from Batan Province, Luzon, measures: Wing, 130; tail, 117; culmen from base, 29; bill from nostril, 20; tarsus, 30. A female from Mindoro measures: Wing, 132; tail, 119; culmen from base, 29; bill from nostril, 20; tarsus, 31.

"Called by the natives 'sa-ling'. Common where it occurs at all. Feeds entirely on fruits, and is often found in fruit trees in company with Dicæidæ, Loriculi, and other fruit-eating birds. It nests in dead trees." (Bourns and Worcester MS.)

734. SARCOPS MELANONOTUS Grant.

BLACK-BACKED COLETO.

Sarcops calvus Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1890), 13, 97 (part); McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 109 (part). Sarcops melanonotus Grant, Bull. Brit. Orn. Club (1906), 16, 100; Ibis (1906), 469; McGregor, Phil. Jour. Sci. (1907), 2, sec. A, 332 (notes on specimens from Bohol and measurements).

Basilan (Everett, McGregor); Bantayan (McGregor); Banton (Celestino); Bohol (McGregor); Catanduanes (Whitehead); Cebu (Everett, Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester, McGregor); Dinagat (Everett); Leyte (Everett, Steere Exp., Bartsch); southern Luzon (Whitehead, Bartsch); Marinduque (Steere Exp.); Masbate (Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester, McGregor); Mindanao (Goodfellow, Celestino); Negros (Meyer, Steere, Everett, Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester); Panay (Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester); Romblon (Bourns & Worcester, McGregor); Samar (Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester); Sibuyan (Bourns & Worcester, McGregor); Siquijor (Celestino); Tablas (Bourns & Worcester, Celestino); Ticao (McGregor).

Adult.--Differs from Sarcops calvus only in having the back black forming a distinct dark area between the silvery gray of the hind neck in front and of the rump and tail-coverts behind.

Until recently Sarcops has been considered to be a monotypic genus. It is true that in 1877 Sharpe described Sarcops lowii from Sibutu, but as the type of this species remains unique we may consider its status to be at least doubtful. In 1895 Grant called attention to some differences between specimens of bald starlings collected in localities east of the meridian 122 and those from localities west of that line. Quoting in part from Grant: "we find that east of longitude 122 degrees, or thereabout, all the Philippine examples of S. calvus have the mantle and upper back brownish black; while west of this line all have the upper parts uniform silvery gray; intermediate forms being met with only in localities situated along the line where the two forms intergrade."

In 1906 Grant designated the eastern race as Sarcops melanonotus which is here recognized. The difference between the two races, while evident enough in extreme examples, is not always well marked. As Grant states, specimens taken near the meridian 122 are usually intermediate in the color of the mantle and are not satisfactorily referable to either race. These intermediate birds occur in Basilan, Bohol, Marinduque, Luzon, Tablas, Bohol, and Cebu. In Luzon and Bohol, at least, both varieties and intermediate specimens have been found.

Under these conditions it will be understood that the distribution of the two races of Sarcops, as indicated by islands, is only tentative, while the assignment of the various collectors to their proper places is more or less a matter of guesswork.

Genus GOODFELLOWIA Hartert, 1903.

Bill shorter than head; nostrils overhung by antrorse frontal plumes; bare space around each eye much smaller than in Sarcops; a long crest of decomposed feathers springing from the crown; tail much longer than wing; rectrices graduated; plumage black, glossed with steel-green; a large white patch on rump.

735. GOODFELLOWIA MIRANDA Hartert.

SPECTACLED STARLING.

Goodfellowia miranda Hartert, Bull. Brit. Orn. Club (1903), 11; Novit. Zool. (1906), 13, 758, pl. 2, fig. 2; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 108.

Tu-ca-ling', Bagobo of Mount Apo.

Mindanao (Goodfellow, Mearns).

Adult (sexes alike).--Black, glossed with dark green; wings and tail blackish brown with little or no gloss; wing-lining and a large patch on lower back and rump white. "Iris dark brown, bare skin round eye yellow; bill yellow, shading into greenish yellow at the base; toes dirty olive or blackish olive; legs olive-yellow." (Goodfellow.) Length, about 300 mm. A male measures: Wing, 116; tail, 156; culmen from base, 22; tarsus, 25; crest, 31; difference between longest and shortest rectrices, 90. A female, wing, 114; tail, 162; culmen from base, 25; tarsus, 30; crest, 25; difference between longest and shortest rectrices, 92.

This peculiar starling is confined to the highlands of Mindanao.

Genus EULABES Cuvier, 1817.

Bill shorter than head and very stout; culmen strongly curved; nasal feathers antrorse, but short and not concealing the nostrils; feathers on head very short, those of lores and a broad band of feathers on each side of crown and occiput pile-like; a bare space below each eye; a bare space behind each eye ending in a fleshy flap, or wattle, on nape; tail square, less than one-half the wing and not extending beyond the very stout legs and feet; plumage black, glossed with blue and purple; a white bar on the wing.

736. EULABES PALAWANENSIS Sharpe.

PALAWAN WATTLED MYNA.

Eulabes palawanensis Sharpe, Ibis (1888), 202; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 109. Mainatus palawanensis Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1890), 13, 104.

Balabac (Everett); Calamianes (Bourns & Worcester); Palawan (Steere, Everett, Lempriere, Whitehead, Platen, Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester, Celestino, White).

Adult (sexes alike).--Black, most of the plumage with a slight green gloss, but the gloss slightly bluish on throat, breast, and hind-neck, purplish on mantle; second to seventh primaries with a wide white band, but on the second confined to the inner web and sometimes indicated by a small white spot on the outer web of the eighth. A male from Palawan measures: Wing, 162; tail, 75; culmen from base, 30; bill from nostril, 19; tarsus, 36. A female from the same locality, wing, 168; tail, 74; culmen from base, 32; bill from nostril, 21; tarsus, 36.