A Manual of Philippine Birds

by Richard C. McGregor

Species.

• a¹. Chin white; upper parts more or less spotted with white.
  • b¹. Smaller; wing less than 125 mm.; breast uniform; no white eyebrow. striata (p. [67])
  • b². Larger; wing more than 140 mm.; breast barred with black and white; a white eyebrow. philippensis (p. [67])
• a². Chin black; upper parts uniform. torquata (p. [68])

57. HYPOTÆNIDIA STRIATA (Linnæus).

BLUE-BREASTED RAIL.

• Rallus striatus Linnæus, Syst. Nat. ed. 12 (1766), 1, 262.
• Hypotænidia striata Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1894), 23, 33; Hand-List (1899), 1, 95; Oates, Cat. Bird’s Eggs (1901), 1, 111; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 15.

Tic-líng, general name for rails.

Calamianes (Bourns & Worcester); Cebu (Everett); Guimaras (Steere Exp.); Leyte (Everett); Luzon (Cuming, McGregor, Gevers); Mindanao (Everett, Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester, Goodfellow); Mindoro (McGregor, Porter); Negros (Steere Exp., Keay); Palawan (Celestino, White); Panay (Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester); Samar (Steere Exp.); Sibuyan (Bourns & Worcester); Siquijor (Bourns & Worcester); Sulu (Guillemard). Burmese countries to China, Malay Peninsula, Indo-Malay Islands, Southern India, Ceylon, Formosa, Celebes.

Adult male.—Above olive-brown, feathers centered with black and barred with broken white lines; crown, neck, and sides of neck dull chestnut, brighter on the last; center of crown blackish; chin and upper throat; lores, sides of face, and ear-coverts, lower throat, fore neck, and breast slate-gray; posterior lower part of body, under wing-coverts, and axillars blackish barred with white; alula blackish brown; primary-coverts and primaries blackish brown spotted and barred with white; tail and its coverts similar to the back. “Basal half of bill rose-pink, the anterior half horn-color; legs and toes deep olive-brown; claws pale brown; iris red.” (Oates.) Length, 246; culmen, 38; wing, 120; tail, 47; tarsus, 37.

“Adult female.—Similar to the male, but paler and decidedly more olive, head not so bright chestnut; white bars on lower parts much tinged with fulvous. Length, 240; culmen, 35; wing, 110; tail, 41; tarsus, 35.