522 MANUAL OF PHILIPPINE BIRDS. 
Genus PTILOCICHLA Sharpe, 1877 
Bill moderate in size; culmen_from base contained one and one-half 
times in tarsus; no bristles anMfere about the mouth; wings rounded 
and short; tarsus and feet stout, the outstretched toes extending to, or 
beyond, the end of tail; plumage lax and decomposed; feathers of the 
back long and overhanging the rump. Chin and throat white; breast 
and abdomen streaked with white. 
Species. 
a’. Back blackish brown; larger; wing, about 80 mm.; tail, 60.... faleata (p. 522) 
a°, Back reddish brown; smaller. 
b*. Shaft-lines on upper parts less prominent; wing, about 75 mm.; tail, 50. 
c’. Above slightly darker and more reddish brown........ mindanensis (p. 523) 
ce’. Above lighter and slightly olivaceous.....................-.---.--- basilanica (p. 523) 
b*. Shaft-lines on upper parts more prominent; wing, about 70 mm.; tail, 42. 
minuta (p. 524) 
499. PTILOCICHLA FALCATA Sharpe. 
PALAWAN GROUND BABBLER, 
Ptilocichla falcata SHARPE, Trans. Linn. Soe. 2d. ser. Zool. (1877), 1, 332, 
pl. 50, fig. 3; Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1883), 7, 586; Hand-List (1903), 
4, 40; McGrecor and WorcrEstER, Hand-List (1906), 81 
Balabac (Everett); Palawan (Steere, Whitehead, Platen, Steere Exp., Bourns 
é& Worcester). 
“Adult male.—Top of the head and nape rufous-brown; sides of the 
forehead and a stripe behind the eye fawn-rufous; lores narrow and 
white; spot before the eye and ear-coverts black; cheeks and throat 
white, with a narrow malar streak of blackish; entire back blackish 
brown, the feathers broadly centered with fulvous; the feathers of the 
lower back long; but somewhat sickle-shaped and hanging over on each 
side, brown or black in color, broadly streaked with white; wings 
rufous-brown, the quills internally blackish ; tail entirely rufous-brown ; 
under surface of body blackish, the feathers broadly streaked with white 
down the middle; thighs, under wing-coverts, and under tail-coverts 
brown, streaked with fulvous. Bill yellowish horn-color, the mandible 
more yellow ; feet dark brown. Length, 173; culmen, 24; wing, 81; tail, 
61; tarsus, 33.” (Sharpe.) 
“Not rare in Palawan, but difficult to see, as it is shy and protect- 
ively colored, It seems to be a very pugnacious bird, and the males can 
be readily called by imitating their note. They come apparently pre- 
pared to do battle. We found P. falcata at a height of 760 meters on 
Mount Pulgar. 
“A male measures: Length, 203; wing, 86; tail, 70; culmen, 26; 
tarsus, 33; middle toe with claw, 29. Iris reddish brown; legs and feet 
dark gray; upper mandible black, lower gray: breeding in January.” 
(Bourns and Worcester MS.) 
