A Manual of Philippine Birds. Richard C. McGregor
GREBE.
Colymbus philippensis Bonnaterre, Tabl. Encycl. Meth. (1790), 1, 58, pl. 46, fig. 3.
Podicipes philippensis Grant, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1898), 26, 511.
Podicipes philippinensis Sharpe, Hand-List (1899), 1, 113; Oates, Cat. Birds’ Eggs (1901), 1, 133; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 19.
Su-li-a′-sit, Manila; ga-mao′, Bohol.
Bohol (McGregor); Calayan (McGregor); Guimaras (Steere Exp.); Luzon (Jagor, Heriot, Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester, Whitehead, McGregor, Stafford); Mindanao (Mearns); Panay (Clarke).7 Borneo, southern China, Burmese provinces, Formosa, Hainan.
Adult in breeding plumage.—Above dark, glossy seal-brown; chin, fore throat, and cheeks blackish; throat, sides of neck, and ear-coverts chestnut; breast and abdomen silvery white, mixed with a little blackish brown and gradually shading into blackish brown on fore breast, sides, flanks, and lower belly; thighs blackish mixed with a little light chestnut; wings black; under wing-coverts, axillars, and tips of short secondaries white. “Iris straw-yellow; bill black, whitish at the tip; naked skin at base of bill and between rami of the mandible pale greenish yellow; legs blackish gray, with a slight tinge of green.” (Swinhoe.) A male from Calayan, November 15, 1903, measures: Length, 280; wing, 107; culmen broken; tarsus, 33; middle toe with claw, 48.
The following data are from a female taken at Jala Jala, Laguna de Bay, Luzon, January 5, 1902. Feet bluish black; angle of mouth and base of lower mandible clear, pale pea-green; bill black with a light spot at tip. Wing, 100; exposed culmen, 23; tarsus, 33; middle toe with claw, 49. A female from Sevilla, Bohol, March 24, 1906, measures: Length, 254; wing, 102; exposed culmen, 23; tarsus, 33; middle toe with claw, 49.
The non-breeding bird has the chin and throat white and the chestnut reduced in extent and lighter in shade.
Young.—A half-grown downy young was obtained at Laguna de Bay, August 24, 1904. Above seal-brown with white tips to much of the down; middle of crown mottled with chestnut; a white line over eye; two diagonal white lines on each side of occiput, the anterior line continued along side of neck; chin, throat, and face mottled with white, black, and dark gray; fore breast, sides, and lower belly gray; middle of breast and belly white. Bill pale yellow mottled with blackish brown, tip gray; legs black. Length, 203.
A full-grown young bird has upper parts light brown; sides of head and neck buffy brown, mottled and streaked with white; chin and upper throat white; a wide dull buffy brown band around neck; breast and abdomen pure white; thighs buff-brown.
“Comparatively rare. Several specimens were secured by the Steere Expedition in a little pond in Guimaras. Fairly common in the Laguna de Bay, Luzon, but we failed entirely to find it in the Laguna de Naujan, Mindoro.” (Bourns and Worcester MS.)
Order PROCELLARIIFORMES.
PETRELS AND SHEARWATERS.
Bill strong and moderately long, terminating in a strong, sharp, overhanging hook or nail; nostrils impervious and tubular, opening forward or upward; feet moderate; toes webbed; hind toe small and elevated, rarely absent. Oceanic birds of strong flight and wandering habits; colors black, brown, and white. Eggs white, deposited in burrows or among piles of loose stone; young covered with down and fed for some time before leaving the nest.
Families.
a1. Smaller; wing less than 150 mm. Procellariidæ (p. 84)
a2. Larger; wing more than 300 mm. Puffinidæ (p. 84)
Family PROCELLARIIDÆ.
Nasal tube prominent, vertically truncated and with a thin partition.
Subfamily PROCELLARIINÆ.
Genus Oceanodroma Reichenbach, 1852.
Wing less than 180 mm.; tarsus not longer than middle toe with claw; tail emarginate or slightly forked; tarsus less than twice as long as culmen.
74. OCEANODROMA species McGregor.
PETREL.
Oceanodroma sp. McGregor, Bull. Philippine Mus. (1904), 4, 12; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 19.
Luzon (McGregor).
The only specimen representing this genus and known to have been taken in the Philippines is in very poor condition and can not be determined specifically. It came aboard ship near Mariveles, Luzon, during a storm on July 28, 1903.
Family Puffinidæ.
Nasal case low and broad; end of lower mandible hooked like the upper.
Subfamily PUFFININÆ.
Genus PUFFINUS Brisson, 1760.
Nasal tube obliquely truncate, its partition thick.
75. PUFFINUS LEUCOMELAS Temminck.
SIEBOLD’S SHEARWATER.
Puffinus leucomelas Temminck, Pl. Col. (1836), pl. 587; Ridgway, Man. North Am. Bds. (1887), 62; Salvin, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1896), 25, 370; Sharpe, Hand-List (1899), 1, 123; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 19.
Luzon (Cuming). Japan and Korea south to Australia.
“Adult male.—Upper surface brown, feathers of body and wings with paler dusky edges; anterior portion of crown, forehead, sides of head, and neck white, each feather with a dark disk, which is narrow on the forehead and sides of the head and neck, giving a streaked appearance; entire under surface white; under wing-coverts white, interior ones with dark shafts, those near the edge of wing with dark disks; axillars pure white; tail brown, the inner webs of the lateral rectrices near the base white; primaries black throughout. Bill horn-color; feet flesh-color, the outer toe a little darker. Length, about 480; wing, 330; outer rectrices, 102; central rectrices, 142.
“Female.—Similar to the male.” (Salvin.)
“Lower parts white; top and sides of head white, spotted and streaked with blackish. Wing, 286 to 318; tail, 149 (graduated for about 46); culmen, 47; tarsus, 47; middle toe with claw, 33.” (Ridgway.)
The only record of this species for the Philippine Islands is based on the specimen collected by Cuming.
Order LARIFORMES.
TERNS AND GULLS.
Nostrils pervious, the opening linear or oval; wings long, strong, and pointed; first primary longest; legs and feet moderate; hind toe small and elevated; anterior toes fully webbed. Plumage of the adult simple in color, being white, black, and pearl-gray, rarely brown, usually in large areas. Young gray or mottled, very different in color from the adult. Usually found in flocks and never far from water. Eggs two to four, highly colored; nests usually on the ground or on cliffs; young downy at birth and fed in the nest for some time.8
Family LARIDÆ.
Characters same as those given for the Order.
Subfamilies.