Co-ling, Mindoro; i-ling, Ticao; sa-ling, Masbate; co-le-to, Manila.

Basilan (Everett, Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester, McGregor); Bongao (Everett); Guimaras (Meyer, Steere Exp.); Libagao (Porter); Lubang (McGregor); northern Luzon (Cuming, Kittlitz, Everett, Steere Exp., Whitehead, McGregor); Maestre de Campo (McGregor & Worcester); Marinduque (Steere Exp.); Mindanao (Everett, Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester); Mindoro (Steere Exp., Schmacker, Bourns & Worcester, Everett, McGregor); Papahag (Bartsch); Semirara (McGregor & Worcester); Sibay (McGregor & Worcester); Sibutu (Low, Everett); Sulu (Guillemard, Bourns & Worcester); Tablas (Bourns & Worcester); Tawi Tawi (Bourns & Worcester); Verde (McGregor).

Adult (sexes alike).—Forehead, lores, face, vertical line, and a narrow band on occiput black; wings and tail black; sides of neck, mantle, back, rump, and tail-coverts silvery gray; under parts black; a patch on each side of chest pure white; flanks silvery white; in some specimens the throat is marked with fine white lines. Iris pinkish; bill, legs, feet, and nails black. Length, 265 to 290. A male from Batan Province, Luzon, measures: Wing, 130; tail, 117; culmen from base, 29; bill from nostril, 20; tarsus, 30. A female from Mindoro measures: Wing, 132; tail, 119; culmen from base, 29; bill from nostril, 20; tarsus, 31.

“Called by the natives ‘sa-ling’. Common where it occurs at all. Feeds entirely on fruits, and is often found in fruit trees in company with Dicæidæ, Loriculi, and other fruit-eating birds. It nests in dead trees.” (Bourns and Worcester MS.)

734. SARCOPS MELANONOTUS Grant.
BLACK-BACKED COLETO.

Basilan (Everett, McGregor); Bantayan (McGregor); Banton (Celestino); Bohol (McGregor); Catanduanes (Whitehead); Cebu (Everett, Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester, McGregor); Dinagat (Everett); Leyte (Everett, Steere Exp., Bartsch); southern Luzon (Whitehead, Bartsch); Marinduque (Steere Exp.); Masbate (Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester, McGregor); Mindanao (Goodfellow, Celestino); Negros (Meyer, Steere, Everett, Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester); Panay (Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester); Romblon (Bourns & Worcester, McGregor); Samar (Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester); Sibuyan (Bourns & Worcester, McGregor); Siquijor (Celestino); Tablas (Bourns & Worcester, Celestino); Ticao (McGregor).

Adult.—Differs from Sarcops calvus only in having the back black forming a distinct dark area between the silvery gray of the hind neck in front and of the rump and tail-coverts behind.

Until recently Sarcops has been considered to be a monotypic genus. It is true that in 1877 Sharpe described Sarcops lowii from Sibutu, but as the type of this species remains unique we may consider its status to be at least doubtful. In 1895 Grant called attention to some differences between specimens of bald starlings collected in localities east of the meridian 122 and those from localities west of that line. Quoting in part from Grant: “we find that east of longitude 122 degrees, or thereabout, all the Philippine examples of S. calvus have the mantle and upper back brownish black; while west of this line all have the upper parts uniform silvery gray; intermediate forms being met with only in localities situated along the line where the two forms intergrade.”