A Manual of Philippine Birds. Richard C. McGregor
(McGregor); Catanduanes (Whitehead); Cebu (Everett, Bourns & Worcester, McGregor); Dinagat (Everett); Leyte (Everett); Luzon (Cuming, Meyer, Everett, Bourns & Worcester, Whitehead, McGregor); Marinduque (Steere Exp.); Masbate (Bourns & Worcester, McGregor); Mindanao (Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester, Goodfellow); Mindoro (Bourns & Worcester, McGregor); Negros (Everett, Keay); Panay (Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester); Romblon (Bourns & Worcester, McGregor); Samar (Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester); Sibuyan (McGregor); Siquijor (Bourns & Worcester, Celestino); Ticao (McGregor); Verde (McGregor).
Adult (sexes alike).—Above olive-brown with a few, obscure, black lines on forehead; lores and circumocular area black, continued as a wide black band behind eye to side of nape; below this a wide white band from gape to neck, slightly washed with chestnut at its end; chin gray; throat and lower part of face black; lower throat and rest of lower parts black profusely banded with white; vent and under tail-coverts washed with clay-brown; a wide band of chestnut across breast; under wing-coverts and axillars barred with black and white like the breast. Iris red; bill, legs, and nails brown. Three males: Length, 317 to 330; wing, 151 to 155; tail, 54 to 65; exposed culmen, 41 to 43; tarsus, 52 to 53; middle toe with claw, 52 to 55. Two females: Length, 305, 317; wing, 142, 144; tail, 51, 60; exposed culmen, 39, 41; tarsus, 51, 52; middle toe with claw, 51, 52.
Young.—Resembles the adult but has more white on the chin; band across breast wider and olive-brown; vent and under tail-coverts barred with reddish brown.
“H. torquata usually deposits four eggs, more rarely three. The ground-color of the egg is creamy white, sparingly marked with spots and a few blotches of brown varying from dark chocolate to reddish, and with more numerous spots and blotches of pale lilac; all the markings more numerous at the larger end. Ten eggs average 38 by 28.4.” (Bourns and Worcester MS.)
The Philippine rail is the most abundant species of its family with the possible exception of Poliolimnas cinereus; both species are often taken in snares.
Genus RALLINA Reichenbach, 1849.
The species of this genus are of small size with short stout bills; middle toe with claw shorter than tarsus; head, neck, and chest chestnut; sides and abdomen barred with white.
Species.
a1. Wing-coverts broadly barred with white or buffy-white. fasciata (p. 70)
a2. Wing-coverts uniform or with few irregular white bars. eurizonoides (p. 70)
60. RALLINA FASCIATA (Raffles).
MALAY BANDED CRAKE.
Rallus fasciatus Raffles, Trans. Linn. Soc. (1822), 13, pt. 2, 328.
Rallina fasciata Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1894), 23, 75; Hand-List (1899), 1, 99; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 16.
Balabac (Everett); Mindoro (Porter); Palawan (Whitehead, Platen). Burmese provinces, Malay Peninsula, Indo-Malayan Islands, Halmhéra, Pelew Islands.
“Adult male.—General color above ruddy brown, scapulars like the back; rump a little more olive-brown; upper tail-coverts and tail-feathers reddish brown; lesser and median coverts ruddy brown, with buffy white bars, each of which is margined with black; greater coverts black, rather broadly barred with white, as well as the alula and primary-coverts; quills blackish brown, checkered with white spots on outer web, and barred with white on the inner one; secondaries broadly barred and tipped with white, these white markings obsolete on the innermost, rufous-brown secondaries; crown, neck, sides of face, ear-coverts, cheeks, throat, and chest chestnut, a little lighter on the throat; breast and sides white, broadly banded with black, the abdomen white; thighs white externally, ashy brown internally; under tail-coverts barred with black and white or rufous-white; under wing-coverts and axillars white, barred with black like the inner lining of quills. ‘Bill dark horny; orbital skin and gape vermilion; feet and exposed portion of tibia bright coral-red; iris dull cinnabar-red.’ (Davidson.) Length, 216; culmen, 24; wing, 132; tail, 48; tarsus, 46.
“Adult female.—Similar to the male in color, but a little browner, and with narrower black bars on the under surface, the abdomen being, therefore, whiter. ‘Bill plumbeous; feet coral-red; iris reddish brown.’ (Davidson.) Length, 230; culmen, 23; wing, 124; tail, 48; tarsus, 38.
“Young.—Differs from the adult in being browner, the bands on the wing being buffy white; sides of face, fore neck, and chest ashy brown, with a rufous tinge; throat whitish, as also the breast and abdomen, which have a few bars of dusky blackish on the sides of the body.” (Sharpe.)
61. RALLINA EURIZONOIDES (Lafresnaye).
PHILIPPINE BANDED CRAKE.
Gallinula eurizonoides Lafresnaye, Rev. Zool. (1845), 368.
Rallina euryzonoides Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1894), 23, 78, pl. 8, fig. 1; Hand-List (1899), 1, 100; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 16.
Basilan (McGregor); Cagayancillo (McGregor); Cebu (Everett); Leyte (Everett); Luzon (Cuming, Dussumier, Möllendorff, Bourns & Worcester); Mindanao (Bourns & Worcester); Mindoro (McGregor, Porter); Negros (Everett); Panay (Bourns & Worcester); Sulu (Guillemard).
Adult male.—Back, wings, rump, tail, and tail-coverts dark brown with a slight olive tinge; head, neck, throat, and breast bright chestnut; posterior half of breast, abdomen, flanks, under tail-coverts, under wing-coverts and axillars black with wide white cross-bars, most conspicuous on the breast; thighs brown with but little white; primaries and secondaries blackish with wide white bars on inner webs. “Bill blackish, the base tinged light green, tip grayish; legs dull greenish leaden; feet dark lead-gray; nails gray; iris brilliant red.” (Everett.) Length of a male from Basilan, 254; wing, 128; tail, 65; exposed culmen, 23; tarsus, 46; middle toe with claw, 37.
Adult female.—Differs little if any from the male. A specimen from Cagayancillo had upper mandible black; lower mandible pea-green, tip bluish; legs very dark green; nails dark brown. Length, 215; wing, 128; tail, 69; exposed culmen, 23; tarsus, 40; middle toe with claw, 35.
“So far as our observation goes R. eurizonoides is a woods form, all of our specimens having been killed in deep forest. Eyes orange-red; legs and feet dark olive; upper mandible nearly black; lower olive-green.” (Bourns and Worcester MS.)
Genus PORZANA Vieillot, 1816.
Smallest of the Philippine rails; bill slender; middle toe with claw longer than tarsus.
Species.
a1. Upper surface freckled with white. auricularis (p. 71)
a2. Upper surface uniform. plumbea (p. 72)
62. PORZANA AURICULARIS Reichenbach.
PALLAS’S CRAKE.
Porzana auricularis Reichenbach, Jour. für Orn. (1898), 139; Sharpe, Hand-List (1899), 1, 102; Oates, Cat. Birds’ Eggs (1901), 1, 118.