“The female differs from the male in not having the slaty tint on the crown, nape, and sides of the head; the throat is white, obscurely streaked with brown, and the flanks are very slightly suffused with pale chestnut-brown. In spring the general color of the upper parts has faded from russet-brown into a grayer brown, which becomes still more gray during summer.
“Birds of the year do not entirely lose the marks of immaturity until their second autumn molt; the wing-coverts and innermost secondaries frequently retain the pale tips, though these are white rather than ochraceous; the throat and eye-stripe of the female are much suffused with ochraceous, and the throat of the male resembles that of the adult female.
“Young in first plumage have most of the feathers of the upper parts with pale ochraceous shafts, the feathers of the back have traces of dark-brown terminal bars, and the wing-coverts and innermost secondaries have pale ochraceous tips to the outside webs; on the under parts the feathers of the cheeks and breast have dark-brown tips, which become less conspicuous on the flanks; the throat and eye-stripe are suffused with ochraceous.” (Seebohm.)
A male from Apo Island, near Mindoro, measures: Wing, 126; tail, 97; culmen from base, 22; bill from nostril, 13; tarsus, 30.
Genus GEOKICHLA “Boie” S. Müller, 1835.
Bill short and stout; bristles about bill short and weak; first primary a little shorter than primary-coverts; third to sixth primaries with outer webs emarginate; inner webs of quills light colored at base; axillars bicolored, the colors reversed on the under wing-coverts; tail short, about twice the tarsus. Under parts white, spotted with black.
Species.
- a1. Head brownish chestnut; chin, throat, and chest black interpres (p. [550])
- a2. Head ashy gray; chin and throat white, spotted or barred with black.