A Manual of Philippine Birds. Richard C. McGregor
was found in Mindoro, March 23, 1905. It was made of dry grass and placed on the ground in an old clearing, where it was well hidden by the surrounding grass. The three eggs were slightly incubated; two of them measure 25 by 20 and the third measures 24.6 by 19.8. The ground-color is white, closely speckled with dull greenish brown and occasional small spots of various shades of lilac, the larger end rather thickly marked with blotches of blackish brown. One specimen from Manila, July 30, 1908, measures 23.5 by 18.5.
“Common about old paddy-fields and on grassy plains. It flies but a short distance and then buries itself in the grass, where it runs rapidly and hides so well that one is seldom able to flush a bird the second time.” (Bourns and Worcester MS.)
6. TURNIX OCELLATA (Scopoli).
SPOTTED BUTTON QUAIL.
Oriolus ocellatus Scopoli, Del. Flor. et Faun. Insubr. (1786), pt. 2, 88.
Turnix ocellata Grant, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1893), 22, 548; Sharpe, Hand-List (1899), 1, 49; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 8.
Pu-gong gu′-bat, Manila.
Luzon (Everett, Heriot, Whitehead, McGregor, Worcester, Mearns).
Adult male.—Above mottled and spotted; head and sides of face black with roundish white spots and some rusty edging to feathers; rest of upper parts with large black centers to feathers whose edges are light buff and tips rusty; a slight trace of a chestnut nuchal collar; chin and middle of throat white; breast uniform rufous-chestnut; middle of belly dirty white; flanks, thighs, and under tail-coverts dirty buff; primaries brown with pale edges; secondaries mottled and with wider, buff edges; coverts and tertials buff, each with a larger, roundish, black spot. “Iris white, upper mandible grayish brown at tip, pale yellow from nostrils back; lower mandible pale yellow, except tip light brown, legs and feet light straw-yellow, except joints and soles light brown; nails gray. Length, 165.” (Worcester.) A specimen from Benguet measures: Wing, 93; tail, 33; culmen, 15; tarsus, 25; middle toe with claw, 24.
Adult female.—Similar to male but larger; throat and chin black; chestnut of breast continued above as a wide nuchal collar. Iris white; bill pale yellow, grayish at tip; legs dull yellow; nails whitish. Length, 180; wing, 115; tail, 37; culmen, 17; tarsus, 29; middle toe with claw, 27.5. These measurements are from a specimen taken near Manila.
Young.—In young males the throat is more or less spotted with black and many of the breast-feathers are subterminally spotted with black. In young females the throat is more or less spotted with white.
This is much the largest of the Philippine button quails and appears to be confined to the Island of Luzon.
7. TURNIX WHITEHEADI Grant.
WHITEHEAD’S BUTTON QUAIL.
Turnix whiteheadi Grant, Hand-Book Game Bds. (1896), 2, 276; Whitehead, Ibis (1899), 5, 493; Sharpe, Hand-List (1899), 1, 48; McGregor, Bull. Philippine Mus. (1904), 4, 7, pl. I, fig. 2; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 8.
Luzon (Whitehead, McGregor).
Adult male.—General color above black, finely vermiculated with gray and dull reddish brown or with dull chestnut; crown mostly black with dull chestnut tips to the feathers; a distinct median line of buff from bill to neck; many feathers on back edged with buff or whitish buff; forehead and whole side of face pale buff, most of the feathers black tipped; chin, upper throat, and abdomen white; breast dark buff; a few black spots on sides of breast; a few feathers on sides, under wings, dull chestnut; quills brown with light edges; long alula-quill edged with white; coverts largely ochraceous-buff or dull chestnut and more or less marked with large black spots; long scapulars broadly edged with ochraceous-buff or pale yellow-buff. Iris white; upper mandible dark horn; lower mandible dull blue; legs and nails flesh-colored. Length, about 120; wing, 56.5 to 61; tail, 16.5 to 28; culmen, 9 to 10; tarsus, 16.5 to 18.
Adult female.—Differs from the adult male in having median crown-line and sides of face pale straw or whitish; a narrow collar of dull chestnut; above generally darker and marked with a greater amount of dull chestnut. Wing, 60 to 64; tail, 18 to 22; culmen, 9.5 to 11.5; tarsus, 17 to 18.
Young.—Immature birds are similar to adults but have the breast white, streaked with dark brown; upper parts more uniformly and less richly colored.
Eggs.—White with numerous, obscure, lilac markings; around the larger end a band of dark sienna; larger end covered to middle of egg with a wash of dark brown; edge of this color-area well-defined and slightly irregular; smaller end of egg with a few small specks and a faint brown wash. Two eggs measure respectively 20 by 16 and 20 by 16.5. Another egg, measuring 20.6 by 16.2, is white, speckled with brown and has nearly one-half the surface, at the larger end, covered with dark vandyke-brown. Eggs are deposited in August so far as known.
The only known specimens of Whitehead’s button quail were purchased in the Quinta Market, Manila. It is said that they are trapped in the vicinity of Parañaque, some 7 kilometers from Manila.
8. TURNIX SULUENSIS Mearns.
SULU BUTTON QUAIL.
Turnix suluensis Mearns, Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash. (1905), 18, 83; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 8.
Sulu (Mearns).
“Adult female (type and only specimen).—General color of upper parts walnut-brown, the feathers finely banded and vermiculated with gray and black; top of head clove-brown, the feathers almost imperceptibly edged with gray, divided by a median stripe of isabella-color extending from the base of the bill to the occiput; sides of head and neck buffy white speckled with clove-brown; nape walnut-brown, the feathers edged with gray; mantle walnut-brown, the feathers edged with gray, and vermiculated with black, gray, and traces of very pale cinnamon; lower back, rump, and upper tail-coverts clove-brown, the feathers narrowly edged with gray on the back and upper rump, more broadly with cinnamon on the lower rump and upper tail-coverts; tail grayish drab, the feathers perceptibly cross-banded with wavy lines of dusky, edged with cinnamon on outer webs, with middle pair of feathers extending 7 mm. beyond the next pair; scapulars and humerals conspicuously edged externally with golden buff and cinnamon; primaries grayish drab, the two outer ones edged externally with wood-brown; secondaries darker drab, edged with cinnamon on the outer web; greater wing-coverts cinnamon, drab at base, with a subterminal black spot on the outer web; lesser wing-coverts cinnamon-rufous, edged with buff, with a subterminal black ocellus; chin, upper throat, and malar region, whitish, the last speckled with blackish brown; lower neck and upper breast clay-color, bordered by a chain of oval black spots, the largest 3 mm. in length; lower breast and middle of belly whitish; sides of lower neck, and sides of chest and breast, chestnut mixed with black and clay-color; flanks light clay-color; under tail-coverts darker clay-color; lining of wings pale clay-color and pale grayish drab. Length of skin, 120; wing, 68; tail, 31; culmen, 11.5; depth of bill at angle of gonys, 3.8; tarsus, 19.5.” (Mearns.)
9. TURNIX CELESTINOI McGregor.
CELESTINO’S BUTTON QUAIL.
Turnix celestinoi McGregor, Phil. Jour. Sci. (1907), 2, sec. A, 292, 317.
Bohol (McGregor).
Adult male (type and only specimen).—Ground-color of upper parts black; feathers of head narrowly edged with dull buff, paler on forehead; a narrow median line of pale buff from forehead to nape; hind neck, mantle, rump, and tail-coverts with wavy, broken, cross-lines of dark rusty buff, obsolete on neck; lores and side of head light buff with small black tips to feathers; a patch on each side of neck pale vinaceous-buff with narrow black cross-lines; chin and throat white, each feather