524 MANUAL OF PHILIPPINE BIRDS. 
fulvous-brown of the head and the. uniform fulvous of the back.” 
(Steere. ) 
“Habits similar to those of Pa pasilanica. Our specimens all show the 
differences pointed out by Dr. Steere between the Mindanao and Basilan 
birds, and we consider the two birds to belong to distinct species. 
A male from Mindanao measures: Length, 174; wing, 75; tail, 51; 
culmen, 22; tarsus, 27; middle toe with claw, 27. A female, length, 152; 
wing, 69; tail, 46; culmen, 20; tarsus, 27; middle toe with claw, 26. 
Iris ight yellow or nearly white; legs, feet, and nails drab; upper man- 
dible black, lower gray.” (Bourns and Worcester MS.) 
502. PTILOCICHLA MINUTA Bourns and Worcester. 
LESSER GROUND BABBLER, 
Ptilocichla minuta BouRNS and WoRcESTER, Minnesota Acad. Nat. Sei. Occ. 
. Paper (1894), 1, 24; GRANT, Ibis (1897), 230; SHarpe, Hand-List 
(1903), 4, 40; McGrecor and WorcesTER, Hand-list (1906), 81. 
Samar (Bourns & Worcester, Whitehead); Leyte ( Whitehead). 
“Sexes alike-—Feathers of the head and nape black, with heavy rufous- 
brown shaft-lines; feathers of back and upper wing-coverts bright red- 
dish brown, with conspicuous, nearly white shaft-markings for their 
entire length; tips of feathers black; the elongated feathers of back, 
which reach to tail-coverts, with white shafts and white shaft-markings 
broad at base and narrowing at tip, edges and extreme tips of feathers 
being dark rich fulvous-brown; upper tail-coverts rufous-brown; tail- 
feathers fulvous-brown edged with rufous-brown; lores white; supercil- 
iary line white, extending as far as hind neck; ear-coverts fulvous with 
light shaft-stripes, the latter becoming rufous on hind neck, malar stripe 
black; chin and throat pure white; feathers of breast and abdomen have _ 
very broad white shaft-stripes, giving a streaked appearance to the under 
surface; feathers of flanks much elongated, light fulvous-brown with 
distinct. white shaft-stripes, broadest at base; under tail-coverts colored 
like flanks; under surface of wing fulvous-brown, brighter on coverts. 
“Readily distinguished from P. basilanica by having all the feathers 
of back, head, rump, and upper wing-coverts with prominent shaft-lines, 
by the darker color of the long feathers of the back, and by its much 
smaller size. Exceedingly rare. Length, 136; wing, 69; tail, 42; 
culmen, 19; tarsus, 24.” (Bourns and Worcester.) 
“Tris dark reddish brown; legs, feet, and nails dark brown; bill black, 
except base of lower mandible, which is yellow.” (Bourns and Worcester 
MS.) 
“<This bird is always found on the ground; when moving it does not 
hop like the thrush-tribe, but has a most decided walk like the starlings. 
Its note is a ‘chic-chie-chic’; it is most shy and very difficult to obtain. 
Iris dark brown, tip of upper mandible black, lower light gray; feet 
brown’—J. W.”  (Grant.) 
