Читать книгу A Manual of Philippine Birds - Richard C. McGregor - Страница 295

Body usually compressed; neck and legs very long; plumage full and soft; bill long, normally straight, wedge-shaped, and pointed, but in Ibididæ blunt and decurved, in Plataleidæ broadly spatulate; nostrils near base of bill, elongate; hind toe insistent or but slightly elevated. Nest made of sticks and twigs usually placed in a tree or bush; eggs three to five, blue and unspotted; young helpless at birth.

Suborders.

 a1. Sides of upper mandible with a deep, narrow groove extending from nostrils to tip. Plataleæ (p. 157)

 a2. Sides of upper mandible without any groove.b1. Claws broad and flat, that of middle toe not pectinate. Ciconiæ (p. 159)b2. Claws narrow and arched, that of middle toe with its inner edge distinctly pectinate. Ardeæ (p. 161)

Suborder PLATALEÆ.

Families.

 a1. Bill slender, nearly cylindrical, decidedly decurved for nearly its whole length. Ibididæ (p. 157)

 a2. Bill very broad, flattened, greatly widened toward the tip. Plataleidæ (p. 158)

Family IBIDIDÆ.

Bill long, compressed, and curved downward, its tip blunt and rounded; on each side of culmen a longitudinal groove in the basal portion of which the nostril is pierced.

Genus PLEGADIS Kaup, 1829.

Characters same as those given for the Family.

131. PLEGADIS AUTUMNALIS (Linnæus).

GLOSSY IBIS.

 Tringa autumnalis Linnæus in Hasselquist, Reise Palæstina (1762), 306.

 Plegadis falcinellus Oates, Bds. Brit. Burmah (1883), 2, 271; Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1898), 26, 29; Hand-List (1899), 1, 187; Oates, Cat. Birds’ Eggs (1902), 2, 102; Mearns, Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash. (1905), 18, 89; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 31.

Mindanao (Mearns). China, Africa, Jamaica, Australia, eastern United States, southern Europe to India.

“Adult.—Above black, with varying glossy reflections, either bronzy purple or green; upper mantle deep maroon-chestnut, as also lesser wing-coverts and scapulars, the latter having bronzy tips; median and greater coverts duller and more oily green with bronze or steel-green reflections; alula, primary-coverts, and quills entirely glossy green, secondaries with purplish reflections; lower back, rump, upper tail-coverts, and tail all black, with various reflections of purple and oily or bronzy green; head and neck all round, as well as under surface of body deep maroon-chestnut, somewhat lighter on the chest and breast; forehead and fore part of crown glossy green, as also base of cheeks and a slight shade below eye; under tail-coverts, under wing-coverts, and axillars black, with metallic reflections of green and purple, the quill-lining being similarly glossed. ‘Bill and feet dark brownish olive, iris brown.’ (Guillemard.) Length, 558; culmen, 132; wing, 284; tail, 99; tarsus, 107.

“Female.—Similar to the male in plumage, but smaller in size and with a somewhat smaller bill.

“The winter plumage would appear to be adopted after the bird has left for its winter quarters, as a male killed in Celebes on August 20 is still in full red plumage. The winter plumage of the adults appears to consist in the entire loss of the chestnut plumage of the head, back, and scapulars; the rest of the plumage remains metallic with the same varying shades of green and purple, but the wings are rather more bronzy and the wing-coverts brighter metallic green. The head and neck are entirely streaked with black and whitish, and in the spring the red feathers of the summer plumage are gained by a molt.

“Young birds are similar to the winter plumage of the adult, but are more of a metallic oil-green, without the beautiful shades which distinguish the adults at all seasons. The head is dusky brown, with a certain amount of white striping on the head and throat, but not so much as in the adult winter plumage.” (Sharpe.)

Although the only authentic record of the occurrence of the glossy ibis in the Philippine Islands is that made by Mearns, there is every reason to look for it in Luzon and other of the larger islands.

Family PLATALEIDÆ.

Members of this family greatly resemble herons but differ in having the bill flattened and spatulate, the tip blunt and rounded; from each of the nostrils there is a groove which extends parallel to the edge of the mandible and meets the opposite groove at tip of bill.

Genus PLATALEA Linnæus, 1766.

Character same as those given for the Family.

132. PLATALEA MINOR Temminck and Schlegel.

LESSER SPOONBILL.

 Platalea minor Temminck and Schlegel, Fauna Japonica Aves (1850), 120, pl. 76; Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1898), 26, 50; Hand-List (1889), 1, 188; McGregor, Phil. Jour. Sci. (1906), 1, 766.

Luzon (Banks). Korea, Japan, China, and Formosa.

“Adult male.—Entirely white with a small but full nuchal crest; bare forehead black, the black skin extending just behind the eye and occupying the sides of the face, fore parts of cheeks, and upper throat, on which the white feathers impinge in a triangular form in the center; a yellow spot in front of the eye. ‘Bill slate-color, transversely barred with black, the bars broken and disconnected on the spatule; apical edge black, succeeded by a patch and scattered spots of orange-ocher over the spatule, which is also freckled with light slate-color; inside of mouth deep indigo-black; inside of nostrils ocherous; bare skin of face black, with a bright yellow-ocher patch before eye, extending over under lid, and a thin line over upper lid; legs purplish black; iris blood-red.’ (Swinhoe.) Length, 685; culmen, 183; wing, 371; tail, 107; tarsus, 121.

“Adult female.—Similar to the male. ‘Bill flesh-color, longitudinally streaked and speckled with blackish, mottled and freckled with slate-color, chiefly about the spatule; bare skin of face dull purplish brown; feet purplish black; iris yellowish brown.’ (Swinhoe.) Length, 660; culmen, 185; wing, 356; tail, 102; tarsus, 119.

“Young.—Differs from the adults in having a more yellowish bill, and blackish shaft-stripes to the quills; outer primaries blackish at ends of outer webs.” (Sharpe.)

Mr. Charles S. Banks of the Bureau of Science brought the head of a spoonbill from Dagupan, Luzon, where he found this species not uncommon in November, 1907. While I have referred this specimen to Platalea minor its specific identity is uncertain.

Suborder CICONIÆ.

Family CICONIIDÆ.

Bill long, stout, compressed, and tapering, tip pointed; culmen straight except at the tip; nostril pervious in a slit; wing large; secondaries longer than primaries; tail short; tarsus about as long as culmen and covered with small hexagonal scales; hind toe about half the length of inner toe; nails short and blunt.

Subfamily CICONIINÆ.

Genus DISSÖURA Cabanis, 1850.

Character same as those given for the Family.

133. DISSÖURA EPISCOPUS (Boddaert).

WHITE-NECKED STORK.

 Ardea episcopus Boddaert, Tabl. Pl. Enl. (1783), 54.

 Dissura episcopus Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1898), 26, 294; Blanford, Fauna Brit. Ind. Bds. (1898), 4, 370, fig. 87.

 Dissöura episcopus Sharpe, Hand-List (1899), 1, 190; Oates, Cat. Birds’ Eggs (1902), 2, 105; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 31.

Basilan (McGregor); Bohol (Steere); Calayan (McGregor); Leyte (Everett); Luzon (Heriot, Whitehead); Marinduque (Worcester); Masbate (Bourns & Worcester); Mindanao (Everett, Celestino, Goodfellow); Mindoro (Bourns & Worcester, McGregor); Negros (Steere, Bourns & Worcester, Whitehead, Keay); Panay (Bourns & Worcester); Samar (Whitehead). Tropical Africa, Indian and Malay Peninsulas, Indo-Malay Islands, Indo-Chinese countries, Celebes, Ceylon.

“Adult male.—Above black, glossed with metallic green and purple, more especially on hind neck; entire back and upper tail-coverts glossed with metallic green; tail-feathers black, not to be confounded with the under tail-coverts, which are white; the outer retrices black, graduated, and forming a fork; wing-coverts like the back, but more distinctly glossed, especially on the lesser series, which are metallic purplish red; quills black, glossed with slaty externally and with metallic green on the inner face of all the quills, crown of head blue-black as far as occiput; nape and entire neck white as well as the throat; chin less thickly clothed with feathers; breast black, slightly glossed with metallic green, but more strongly with reddish purple, especially on the fore neck and chest; abdomen and under tail-coverts white, the long ones stiffened and resembling tail-feathers; axillars and under wing-coverts black with a gloss of metallic green. ‘Bill in general black, tinged with red on culmen, tips, and margins; legs and toes red; claws reddish horn-color; iris crimson; eyelids and facial skin plumbeous.’ (Oates.) Length, about 915; culmen, 914; wing, 508; tail, 183; tarsus, 179.

“Adult female.—Similar to the male. ‘Iris very pale, almost whitish hue.’ (H. J. Rainey.) Length, 914; culmen, 145; wing, 470; tail, 183; tarsus, 157.

“Young birds differ from the adults in being much browner and not having so much gloss, the black feathers on the head being replaced by bronzy brown, the purplish gloss on the wing-coverts almost absent, and the purple gloss on the breast being replaced by dull bronzy brown. The forehead generally shows a basal line of white feathers, but these are also apparent in some of the old birds, and are apparently shed by them in course of time.” (Sharpe.)

Specimens obtained in Mindoro have an unfeathered band along the under side of the forearm. The skin of this space is dark crimson.

“Rather rare and very shy. Usually seen soaring at great heights. Occasionally met with perching on dead trees, or wading about the rice-fields.” (Bourns and Worcester MS.)