- Tachornis infumatus McGregor, Bull. Philippine Mus. (1903), 1, 5.
- Tachornis pallidior McGregor, Bur. Govt. Lab. (1904), 25, 27; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 59.
Bohol (McGregor); Cebu (McGregor); Luzon (McGregor); Mindanao (Celestino); Ticao (McGregor).
Adult.—Upper parts dark brown; nearly black on head, neck, and back which have a faint green gloss; feathers of rump and upper tail-coverts lighter brown and narrowly fringed with gray in unworn plumage, the tail-coverts with dark shafts; wing-feathers blackish brown, glossy on outer webs; short primaries narrowly edged with white on inner webs; tail of the same color as wings; sides of head brown; chin and throat light drab-gray, merging gradually into the dark drab-gray of the lower breast and abdomen where the feathers are narrowly edged with whitish; stiff feathers in front of eye white with brown tips. Length in flesh, 114; wing, 119; lateral rectrices, 50; central rectrices, 31.
This species is easily recognized by the deeply-forked tail and peculiar paired toes; it is a near relative of Tachornis infumata from which it differs chiefly in having a paler chin and throat. It has been found in small numbers in the islands from which it is recorded.
Genus MICROPUS Meyer and Wolfe, 1810.[40]
Tarsus well feathered in front; outer toes more or less reversible; claws strong; tail decidedly forked; rectrices pointed but not stiff; nostril opening oval with a median septum which is not plainly seen in the dry specimen.
Species.
- a1. Larger; wing, more than 160 mm.; feathers of breast tipped with white. pacificus (p. [361])
- a2. Smaller; wing, less than 150 mm.; feathers of breast uniform blackish. subfurcatus (p. [362])