Part 30

"Adult male.--Similar to L. fuscus, and having red legs like the latter species; upper surface ashy brown, as also the wings and tail; head ashy brown, with a rufous tinge on the forehead; lores, sides of face, throat, and breast pale vinous-chestnut; chin whitish; sides of breast ashy brown; flanks and thighs white, barred with dusky blackish; under tail-coverts black, barred and tipped with white; axillars and under wing-coverts white, with dusky blackish bars. 'Bill bluish gray, blackish on the culmen and about the tip, pea-green about the base; inside of mouth flesh-color; iris crimson; eyelid red; legs and toes salmon-color, brownish on the under surface of the tarsi, on the toes, and on their soles.' (Swinhoe.) Length, 215; culmen, 28; wing, 119; tail, 55; tarsus, 38.

"Young (type of Rallina rufigenis).--Similar to the adult, but duller above, paler rufous below, the abdomen white with a vinous tinge; throat white; wing-coverts much more numerously banded with white." (Sharpe.)

Steere is the only author who has recorded this species from the Philippines.

Genus AMAURORNIS Reichenbach, 1852.

Bill rather stout; base of upper mandible slightly swollen; legs and feet large; middle toe with claw longer than tarsus; plumage with neither spots nor bars.

Species.

a1. Chin, throat, and breast slate-gray. ... olivacea (p. 75) a2. Chin, throat, and breast pure white. ... phoenicura (p. 76)

67. AMAURORNIS OLIVACEA (Meyen).

PHILIPPINE WATERHEN.

Gallinula olivacea Meyen, Nova Acta C. L-C. Acad. Nat. Cur. (1834), 16, Suppl. 1, 109, pl. 20. Amaurornis olivacea Walden, Trans. Zool. Soc. (1875), 9, 231, pl. 33, fig. 1; Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1894), 23, 153; Hand-List (1899), 1, 106; Grant and Whitehead, Ibis (1898), 247 (eggs); Oates, Cat. Birds' Eggs (1901), 1, 120. Amauronis olivacea McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1907), 17 (error).

Tin-gaó, Ticao; ba-na-tí-ran, Calayan; ba-hu-goc', Batan.

Batan (McGregor); Bohol (McGregor); Calayan (McGregor); Cebu (Everett, Bourns & Worcester, McGregor); Leyte (Everett); Luzon (Meyen, Everett, Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester, Whitehead); Masbate (McGregor); Mindanao (Platen, Goodfellow); Mindoro (McGregor); Negros (Keay); Panay (Bourns & Worcester); Samar (Bourns & Worcester); Siquijor (Bourns & Worcester); Ticao (McGregor).

Adult (sexes alike).--Above olive-brown; below bluish slate-gray, most intense on breast, lighter on chin, throat, and middle of abdomen; flanks and thighs dull olive-brown; under tail-coverts ruddy brown. Iris red; bill sea-green; legs dirty yellow; nails brown. Length of a male from Bohol, 330; wing, 175; tail, 63; culmen from base, 37; tarsus, 65; middle toe with claw, 70. Length of a male from Calayan, 305; wing, 178; tail, 57; culmen from base, 41; tarsus, 69; middle toe with claw, 73. A female from Mindoro, May 6, 1905, measures: Length, 290; wing, 165; tail, 53; culmen from base, 37; tarsus, 57; middle toe with claw, 64.

"A common bird, snared in abundance by the natives. Two sets of eggs were obtained by us in Siquijor. The nest was in each case placed on a slight elevation, and was a mere heap of dried leaves and grasses. The ground-color of the eggs is rather a rich creamy buff. They are heavily blotched and spotted with a rich light chocolate-brown, the blotches being more numerous at the larger end, where they are often confluent. A few inconspicuous lilac markings are also present. The eggs measure from 40.6 to 43 in length, and from 29 to 32 in greatest breadth." (Bourns and Worcester MS.)

Oates describes two eggs collected in Siquijor in February by the Steere Expedition. "The eggs of the Philippine crake are of a broad oval form, and they have but little gloss. The ground is creamy white, and this is spotted, streaked, and blotched, more thickly at the larger end than elsewhere, with reddish brown and underlying pale purple. Two examples measure respectively 41.9 by 30.9; 39.3 by 28.7."

A nest of this species found at Balete, Mindoro, was well hidden in a clump of saw-grass. It was very weakly made of dry grass and had a deep cup. The single egg was heavily incubated when taken on May 20. It measures 41.6 by 30.9 mm. The ground-color is pale creamy white. Small spots and fine dots of reddish brown are scattered over the whole shell, but more numerously on the larger end where there are also two large blotches of lavender. A few small lavender dots are scattered over the entire surface.

68. AMAURORNIS PHOENICURA (Pennant).

WHITE-BREASTED WATERHEN.

Gallinula phoenicurus Pennant, Ind. Zool. (1769), 10, pl. 9. Amaurornis phoenicura Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1894), 23, 156; Hand-List (1899), 1, 106; Oates, Cat. Birds' Eggs (1901), 1, 121, pl. 9, fig. 5. Amaurornis phoenicura Blanford, Fauna Brit. Ind. Birds (1898), 4, 173, fig. 36 (head). Amauronis phoenicura McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 18 (error).

Sally-quawk, in general use.

Basilan (Bourns & Worcester, McGregor); Bohol (McGregor); Bongao (Everett); Cagayan Sulu (McGregor); Calamianes (Bourns & Worcester); Cebu (McGregor); Marinduque (Steere Exp.); Mindanao (Everett, Martens, Koch & Schadenberg, Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester); Mindoro (Bourns & Worcester, McGregor); Palawan (Platen, White); Panay (Bourns & Worcester); Siquijor (Bourns & Worcester, Celestino); Sulu (Guillemard); Tawi Tawi (Bourns & Worcester). Indian and Malay Peninsulas, Ceylon, Indo-Burmese Provinces, China, Greater and Lesser Sunda Islands, Celebes.

Adult (sexes alike).--Above including wings dark slate-gray; middle of neck, back, and inner secondaries washed with olive; lower back, rump, and upper tail-coverts dull brown; forehead, eyebrow, face, sides of neck, chin, throat, and breast white; from behind eye a black streak separating the gray above from the white below, abdomen and thighs washed with light chestnut; flanks and under tail-coverts chestnut; some of the upper tail-coverts slightly chestnut; alula and primaries blackish, first feather of each edged with white; edge of wing white; under wing-coverts blackish, fringed with white; tail blackish. Iris dark brown; upper mandible red behind nostril, remainder dark green; lower mandible pea-green; legs yellowish brown or light brown.

Length, 292 to 305. A male from Danao, Cebu, August 2, 1906, measures: Wing, 147; tail, 63; culmen from base, 38; tarsus, 56; middle toe with claw, 65. A male from Palawan, January 17, 1906, measures: Wing, 156; tail, 69; culmen from base, 37; tarsus, 56; middle toe with claw, 64. A female from Basilan, December 21, 1906, measures: Wing, 147; tail, 58; culmen from base, 35; tarsus, 53; middle toe with claw, 63.

"A very common bird in marshy regions and along fresh-water streams. Called 'sally-quawk' by the natives from its notes." (Bourns and Worcester MS.)

Genus GALLINULA Brisson, 1760.

Bill moderate, the culmen extending backward on the forehead to opposite center of eye and forming a tumid shield with rounded posterior margin; toes with a narrow fold on each side; middle toe without claw longer than tarsus; plumage black with white on flanks and under tail-coverts.

69. GALLINULA CHLOROPUS (Linnæus).

MOORHEN.