A Manual of Philippine BirdsMcGregor, Richard C. (Richard Crittenden)
Science
A Manual of Philippine Birds
McGregor, Richard C. (Richard Crittenden)
Birds -- Philippines
Adult (sexes nearly alike).--General color above black; forehead
spotted with white; feathers of crown and nape tipped with pale
buff and some edged with white, producing an incomplete white line
on middle of head (this line may be perfect in a well made skin);
feathers on back and rump barred and tipped with pale buff; tertials
and scapulars edged with whitish buff; feathers on sides of face mostly
white with black tips; lores white; feathers on sides of neck black,
each with a wide, subterminal, white bar; a small black spot behind
ear; breast and throat rusty buff or dark clay-color, this color
extending up each side of the white chin-area as rusty-buff tips to
the feathers and bounded above by the black-tipped white feathers of
malar region; flanks, under tail-coverts, and sides of abdomen and
breast also rusty buff, but paler; middle of abdomen whitish; a few
feathers on sides of abdomen barred with blackish brown; primaries,
their coverts, and secondaries drab-gray; four outer primaries narrowly
edged with whitish; secondaries barred with whitish on outer webs;
secondary-coverts blackish, mottled and edged with pale buff; rectrices
blackish, edged with buff. Bill pale bluish; legs flesh-pink, nails
slightly darker; iris very pale yellow. A male measures: Length, 120;
wing, 65; tail, 27; culmen from base, 10; depth of bill at angle of
gonys, 5; tarsus, 17; middle toe with claw, 16. Length of female, 128;
wing, 71; tail, 23.5; culmen, 11.4; depth of bill at angle of gonys,
5.8; tarsus, 16.7; middle toe with claw, 18.
Worcester's quail is known from four specimens which were purchased
in Quinta Market, Manila. It resembles T. whiteheadi but differs from
that species in having the bill much deeper. Major E. A. Mearns informs
me that he is quite sure that he saw a live bird of this species in
Manila, in August, 1907.
Order COLUMBIFORMES.
DOVES AND PIGEONS.
Tip of bill horny and strongly convex forming a "nail" which is often
of a shade or color different from that of the soft, contracted, basal
portion; covering of nostril generally tumid; toes four, three in
front, cleft to the base or with a slight web; hind toe not elevated;
legs and toes never much lengthened; tarsus either slightly longer or
slightly shorter than middle toe without claw; wing flat and rather
long; in several genera the primaries variously cut or attenuated;
tail usually square or slightly rounded; never forked; in Macropygia
and Geopelia the rectrices are greatly graduated. A few genera are
terrestrial, but most of them are more or less arboreal and generally
capable of strong, swift, and sustained flight. Their food is largely
grain and small seeds; the larger species feed on the fruits of trees,
rarely on the leaves. The nest is a slight structure of twigs placed on
the ground, in a shrub, or in a tall tree. Eggs one or two, pure white
or slightly cream-colored; in shape rather long, equal ended, ovals.
Suborder COLUMBÆ.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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