26 MANUAL OF PHILIPPINE BIUD«. 



Genus SPHEXOCERCUS Gray, 1840. 



This genus resembles Osmotrcron, but it has a longer and more strongly 

 graduated tail and the hard portion of the upper mandible is shorter. 



12. SPHENOCERCUS AUSTRALIS McGregor. 



SOUTHERK WEDGE-TAILED PIGEON. 



Sphenocerctis formosop McC4regor, Bull. Philippine Mus. (1904), 4, 9; Mc- 



Gbegob and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 9. 

 Sphenocercus australis McGregor, Phil. Jour. Sci. (1907), 2, sec. A, 344. 



Pu-nay, Calayan; a-ri-da-uang', Batan. 



Batan {McGrego?-) ; Calayan (McGregor) ; Camiguin N. (McGregor). 



Adult male. — General color above olive-green, lighter and grayish on 

 neck and sides of neck ; crown ochraceous-buff ; lower parts uniform green 

 from chin to abdomen; middle of abdomen white, washed with pale 

 yellow; sides blue-gray; flanks and thighs dark olive-green, mixed with 

 fine lines of pale yellow; under tail-coverts pale yellowish (the longest 

 buffy), each with a \vide, dark olive-green shaft-mark; shoulders maroon 

 connected by a maroon band across the back; primaries and secondaries 

 black: secondaries and greater coverts with narrow margins of pale 

 yellow; inner secondaries and tail dark green like back; tail black below 

 with a narrow gray tip. Bill light blue, the tip whitish; skin about eye 

 blue; inner ring of eye clear blue, outer ring pink, a dusky intermediate 

 ring; legs dull carmine, nails pale blue. Length, about 355; three 

 specimens measure: Wing, 188 to 197; tail, 125 to 130; exposed culmen, 

 19 to 20; tarsus, 24 to 27; middle toe with claw, 38 to 40. 



Adult female. — Differs from the male in lacking the ochraceous of 

 crown and the maroon of shoulders and back, the entire upper parts being 

 green. Three specimens measure: Wing, 185 to 189; tail, 118 to 185; 

 culmen, 19 to 19.5; tarsus, 24 to 27; middle toe with claw, 35.5 to 37.5. 



This species is closely related to Sphenocercus formosoi and specimens 

 of the two species should be compared. It is not uncommon in Calayan 

 and Camiguin. We were first led to search for it by hearing its weird, 

 prolonged cry which is remarkably like that of a child in pain. Having 

 located the tree in which one of these birds was resting it was difficult 

 to see the bird as its yellowish green under parts were in perfect harmony 

 with the color of the leafy branches. 



Genus OSMOTRERON Bonaparte, 1854. 



Length, 280 to 305 mm. ; colors largely yellow or olive-green ; primaries 

 black; secondaries and coverts with conspicuous yellow borders; tail 

 nearly square, moderate in length; under tail-coverts veiy long, equaling 

 or slightly exceeding rectrices; bill short and moderately stout; feathers 

 covering proximal tarsal joint. 



