A Manual of Philippine Birds

by Richard C. McGregor

• a¹. Head, chin, and throat black; wings neither chestnut nor fawn.
  • b¹. Entire plumage nearly uniform black, glossed with oil-green.
    • c¹. Slightly smaller; culmen in male, about 29 mm. mindorensis (p. [381])
    • c². Slightly larger; culmen in male, about 32 mm. carpenteri (p. [382])
  • b². Neck and breast smoky brown in contrast with the black of head and throat. steeri (p. [382])
• a². Not uniform black; wings chestnut, rufous, or fawn.
  • b¹. Tail black, glossed with blue or green.
    • c¹. Under parts nearly uniform black.
      • d¹. Head, neck, and breast glossed with bluish violet; wing, 220 mm. or more. sinensis (p. [383])
      • d². Head, neck, and breast glossed with oil-green or dark blue; wing, 190 mm. or less.
    • c². Chin, throat, and breast light buff; abdomen black, glossed with oil-green. melanops (p. [386])
  • b². Tail and entire upper parts uniform rufous. unirufus (p. [386])

343. CENTROPUS MINDORENSIS (Steere).

MINDORO COUCAL.

• Centrococcyx mindorensis Steere, List Birds. & Mams. Steere Exped. (1900), 12.
• Centropus mindorensis Shelley, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1891), 19, 339; Sharpe, Hand-List (1900), 2, 166; Grant, Ibis, (1896), 475; McGregor, Bur. Govt. Labs. (1905), 34, 17; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 63.

Mindoro (Steere Exp., Everett, Platen, Schmacker, Bourns & Worcester, Whitehead, McGregor, Porter); Semirara (Worcester).

Adult (sexes similar).—Entire plumage black, heavily glossed with oil-green; most of the feathers with glossy black shafts; in some specimens the alula and primary-coverts edged with rufous. Iris dark red; bill, legs, and nails black. Length of a male, 460; wing, 155; tail, 270; culmen from base, 29; depth of bill at front of nostril, 13.

Young.—A young male taken May 11 is blackish brown; head and neck glossed with green; chin, throat, and breast mottled with gray; wings faintly glossed with green; primaries and secondaries slightly tipped with dull rufous; alula and all upper wing-coverts barred with dull rufous; tail black strongly glossed with green. Wing, 160; tail, 180; culmen from base, 29.

Grant gives the following description of an immature male:

“The immature feathers in the upper parts are dull brownish black, devoid of any gloss; the immature tail- and flight-feathers are similarly colored, but slightly glossed, and the latter are indistinctly barred with pale rufous on both webs. The throat, breast, and belly are brownish black, indistinctly marked with buff; the rest of the plumage is similar to that of the adult.”