498. TURDINUS RUFIFRONS (Tweeddale).
RUFOUS-HEADED BABBLER.
- Trichostoma rufifrons Tweeddale, Proc. Zool. Soc. (1878), 616, pl. 38 (Trichostomus on plate).
- Turdinus rufifrons Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1883), 7, 546; Hand-List (1903), 4, 33; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 81.
Balabac (Everett); Palawan (Everett, Whitehead, Platen, Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester, Celestino).
Adult.—Above fulvous-brown, the feathers of head more rufous and with dark shafts and tips; back more ashy, rump more rufous; lores, line under eye, and line over eye to occiput ashy gray; cheeks and ear-coverts fulvous; under parts white; chin and throat with a few dusky shaft-lines; fore breast, sides of breast, and under tail-coverts washed with ocherous; flanks and thighs light brown; wings brown, edges of primaries and secondaries lighter and slightly olivaceous; rectrices bark-brown, the edges rusty brown. Length, 185 to 200. A male from Palawan measures: Wing, 86; tail, 81; culmen from base, 23; bill from nostril, 14; tarsus, 25. A female, wing, 82; tail, 73; culmen from base, 20; bill from nostril, 12; tarsus, 24.
“Common in the deep woods of Palawan, where it is found in the tops of low trees and in tangled vines. It hides cleverly and is difficult to see. It is a great whistler, and can be readily called up by imitating its note.
“Six males average: Length, 204; wing, 85; tail, 78; culmen, 23; tarsus, 24; middle toe with claw, 24. Four females, length, 191; wing, 82; tail, 64; culmen, 21; tarsus, 24; middle toe with claw, 23. Iris pale straw-color; legs and feet light slate; nails lighter than feet, their tips white; upper mandible black, lower light slate.” (Bourns and Worcester MS.)
Genus PTILOCICHLA Sharpe, 1877.
Bill moderate in size; culmen from base contained one and one-half times in tarsus; no bristles anywhere about the mouth; wings rounded and short; tarsus and feet stout, the outstretched toes extending to, or beyond, the end of tail; plumage lax and decomposed; feathers of the back long and overhanging the rump. Chin and throat white; breast and abdomen streaked with white.