In 1906 Grant designated the eastern race as Sarcops melanonotus which is here recognized. The difference between the two races, while evident enough in extreme examples, is not always well marked. As Grant states, specimens taken near the meridian 122 are usually intermediate in the color of the mantle and are not satisfactorily referable to either race. These intermediate birds occur in Basilan, Bohol, Marinduque, Luzon, Tablas, Bohol, and Cebu. In Luzon and Bohol, at least, both varieties and intermediate specimens have been found.
Under these conditions it will be understood that the distribution of the two races of Sarcops, as indicated by islands, is only tentative, while the assignment of the various collectors to their proper places is more or less a matter of guesswork.
Genus GOODFELLOWIA Hartert, 1903.
Bill shorter than head; nostrils overhung by antrorse frontal plumes; bare space around each eye much smaller than in Sarcops; a long crest of decomposed feathers springing from the crown; tail much longer than wing; rectrices graduated; plumage black, glossed with steel-green; a large white patch on rump.
735. GOODFELLOWIA MIRANDA Hartert.
SPECTACLED STARLING.
- Goodfellowia miranda Hartert, Bull. Brit. Orn. Club (1903), 11; Novit. Zool. (1906), 13, 758, pl. 2, fig. 2; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 108.
Tu-ca-ling′, Bagobo of Mount Apo.
Mindanao (Goodfellow, Mearns).
Adult (sexes alike).—Black, glossed with dark green; wings and tail blackish brown with little or no gloss; wing-lining and a large patch on lower back and rump white. “Iris dark brown, bare skin round eye yellow; bill yellow, shading into greenish yellow at the base; toes dirty olive or blackish olive; legs olive-yellow.” (Goodfellow.) Length, about 300 mm. A male measures: Wing, 116; tail, 156; culmen from base, 22; tarsus, 25; crest, 31; difference between longest and shortest rectrices, 90. A female, wing, 114; tail, 162; culmen from base, 25; tarsus, 30; crest, 25; difference between longest and shortest rectrices, 92.