668 MANUAL OF PHILIPPINE BIRDS. 



Genus DENDRONANTHUS Blyth, 1844.* 



The only member of this genus is not greatly different from the 

 Motacillce, but the tail is slightly shorter than the wing, being inter- 

 mediate in length between the tertials and primaries; the claw of hind- 

 toe is short as in Motacilla; under parts white with a black band across 

 the chest; upper parts with an olivaceous wash; wing-feathers blackish 

 brown; median and greater coverts tipped with white, forming two 

 conspicuous wing-bars; primaries and secondaries with white spots on 

 outer webs, -forming two more bars. Of this genus Gates says: "The 

 structure of the tail in this genus is peculiar, inasmuch as the middle 

 pair of feathers is very markedly shorter than the otli-r> and of a 

 different color." 



683. DENDRONANTHUS INDICUS (Gmelin). 

 FOREST WAGTAIL. 



Motacilla indica GMELIN, Syst. Nat. (1788), 1, 962. 



Limonidromus indicus SHABPE, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1885), 10, 532; 



GATES, Fauna Brit. Ind. Bds. (1890), 2, 300, fig. 82 (head). 

 Limondromus indicus MCGREGOR and WORCESTER, Hand-List (1906), 101 



(error) . 



Balabac (Everett)-, Calayan (McGregor) . Eastern Siberia, northern China, 

 Indian Peninsula; in winter to Ceylon, Andaman Islands, Burmese countries, 

 Cochin China, Malay Peninsula, and Java. 



Adult (sexes similar). Above olive-brown; tail-coverts blackish 

 brown; line from base of bill over eyes to nape whitish; line through 

 eye brown; cheeks and ear-coverts whitish; under parts white, breast 

 tinged with yellow; a broad crescentic band across chest black; behind 

 this indications of another band which is broken in the middle; sides, 

 flanks, and thighs washed with drab-gray; wing-feathers mostly blackish 

 brown, their tips olive-gray; lesser and median coverts with wide yel- 

 lowish white tips, forming two bars ; outer webs of primaries and second- 

 aries with yellowish white spots, forming two shorter bars; two outer 

 pairs of rectrices extensively white; next pair tipped with white; central 

 pair olive-gray ; the others blackish brown. 



The measurements of the male, as given by Sharpe and changed to 

 millimeters, follow : Length, 168 ; wing, 79 ; tail, 72 ; culmen, 14 ; tarsus, 

 22. A female from Calayan Island measures: Wing, 78: tail, 71; 

 culmen from base, 15; tarsus, 22. 



The forest wagtail is the rarest representative of its family in the 

 Philippines, only two specimens having been taken here. It may be 

 recognized at once by the two white wing-bars. 



*Cf. Richmond, Proc. V. 8. Nat. Mus. Washington (1903), 26, 504. 



