718 MANUAL OF PHILIPPINE BIRDS. 



Genus SARCOPS Walden, 1875. 



Bill stout and as long as head; culmen gently curved; base of upper 

 mandible covered with short feathers as far as the nostrils, but the latter 

 exposed; rictal bristles short; sides and top of head naked, except a 

 narrow median line; tail a little shorter than wing; rectrices graduated; 

 upper parts largely silvery gray ; wings, tail, and under parts black. 



733. SARCOPS CALVUS (Linnaeus). 

 GRAY-BACKED COLETO. 



Gracula calva LINN^US, Syst. Nat. ed. 12 (1766), 1, 164. 



Sarcops calvus SHABPE, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1890), 13, 97 (part) ; GRANT, 



Ibis (1895), 258, 456; (1896), 469 (notes on the geographical races) ; 



WHITEHEAD, Ibis (1899), 241 (habits, nest, voice); McGBEOOB and 



WORCESTER, Hand-List (1906), 109 (part). 

 Sarcops lowii SHARPE, Trans. Linn. Soc. 2d. ser. Zool. (1877), 1, 344. 



(Sibutu).* 



Co-ling, Mindoro; i-ling, Ticao; sa-ling, Masbato; < ! t<>. Manila. 



Basilan (Everett, Steere Exp., Bourns d Worcester, McGregor) ; Bongao 

 (Everett); Guimaras (Meyer, Steere Exp.); Libagao (Porter); Lubang (Mc- 

 Gregor) ; northern Luzon (Cuming, Kittlitz, Everett. N/ < /r /,'.//.. \\'hitehead, 

 McGregor) ; Maestre de Campo (McGregor & Worcester) : Marinduque (Steere 

 Exp.) ; Mindanao (Everett, Steere Exp., llourm d Worcester) ; Mindoro (Steere 

 Exp., Schmacker, Bourns d Worcester, Everett, McGregor) ; Papahag (Bartsch) ; 

 Semirara (McGregor d Worcester); Sibay (McGregor d Worcester); Sibutu 

 (Loiv, Everett) ; Sulu (Guillemard, Bourns d Worcester) ; Tablas (Bourns d Wor- 

 cester) ; Tawi Tawi (Bourns d Worcester) ; Verde (McGregor). 



Adult (sexes alike). Forehead, lores, face, vertical line, and a narrow 

 band on occiput black; wings and tail black; sides of neck, mantle, 

 back, rump, and tail-coverts silvery gray; under parts black; a patch 

 on each side of chest pure white ; flanks silvery white ; in some specimens 

 the throat is marked with fine white lines. Iris pinkish ; bill, legs, feet, 

 and nails black. Length, 265 to 290. A male from Batan Province, 

 Luzon, measures: Wing, 130; tail, 117; culmen from base, 29; bill from 

 nostril, 20; tarsus, 30. A female from Mindoro measures: Wing, 132; 

 tail, 119; culmen from base, 29; bill from nostril, 20; tarsus, 31. 



"Called by the natives 'sa-ling'. Common where it occurs at all. 

 Feeds entirely on fruits, and is often found in fruit trees in company 



*The status of "Sarcops loicii" is doubtful; the description follows: "This 

 species appears to be distinguished from the ordinary Sarcops calvus by its gray 

 mantle, which resembles the rest of the back, and by the color of the under surface, 

 which is silvery gray with a narrow blackish line down the center of the body, 

 whereas in S. calvus the mantle is black, and the under surface also, only the 

 flanks being gray." (Sharpe.) 



