- a1. Back blackish brown; larger; wing, about 80 mm.; tail, 60. falcata (p. [522])
- a2. Back reddish brown; smaller.
- b1. Shaft-lines on upper parts less prominent; wing, about 75 mm.; tail, 50.
- b2. Shaft-lines on upper parts more prominent; wing, about 70 mm.; tail, 42. minuta (p. [524])
499. PTILOCICHLA FALCATA Sharpe.
PALAWAN GROUND BABBLER.
- Ptilocichla falcata Sharpe, Trans. Linn. Soc. 2d. ser. Zool. (1877), 1, 332, pl. 50, fig. 3; Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1883), 7, 586; Hand-List (1903), 4, 40; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 81.
Balabac (Everett); Palawan (Steere, Whitehead, Platen, Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester).
“Adult male.—Top of the head and nape rufous-brown; sides of the forehead and a stripe behind the eye fawn-rufous; lores narrow and white; spot before the eye and ear-coverts black; cheeks and throat white, with a narrow malar streak of blackish; entire back blackish brown, the feathers broadly centered with fulvous; the feathers of the lower back long, but somewhat sickle-shaped and hanging over on each side, brown or black in color, broadly streaked with white; wings rufous-brown, the quills internally blackish; tail entirely rufous-brown; under surface of body blackish, the feathers broadly streaked with white down the middle; thighs, under wing-coverts, and under tail-coverts brown, streaked with fulvous. Bill yellowish horn-color, the mandible more yellow; feet dark brown. Length, 173; culmen, 24; wing, 81; tail, 61; tarsus, 33.” (Sharpe.)
“Not rare in Palawan, but difficult to see, as it is shy and protectively colored. It seems to be a very pugnacious bird, and the males can be readily called by imitating their note. They come apparently prepared to do battle. We found P. falcata at a height of 760 meters on Mount Pulgar.
“A male measures: Length, 203; wing, 86; tail, 70; culmen, 26; tarsus, 33; middle toe with claw, 29. Iris reddish brown; legs and feet dark gray; upper mandible black, lower gray; breeding in January.” (Bourns and Worcester MS.)