398 
Philippine Journal of Science 
1920 
The most gorgeous Philippine bird is the Palawan peacock 
pheasant, Polyplectron napolionis Lesson, yet it is seldom seen. 
Mr. Worcester has told me that he never saw an individual of 
this species in the field and that all of the specimens obtained 
by him were purchased from men who had snared them. 
The male of the Philippine trogon, Pyrotrogon ardens (Tem- 
minck) , is perhaps the most beautiful — certainly it is the most 
brilliantly colored — Philippine bird of medium size; but as it 
sits on a branch 10 to 15 meters from the ground, motionless 
in the mottled light and shadow, it is far from being conspicuous. 
Of very rare Philippine birds perhaps the frogmouths (Batra- 
chostomus) will ever remain the rarest. They superficially re- 
semble the nightjars, especially in their soft mottled plumage 
and small feet; but the outermost pair of rectrices is only half 
as long as the middle pair, and the wings are shorter than in 
the Caprimulgidse. The most conspicuous feature of Batracho- 
stomus is its bill, which is enormous and has a peculiar sigmoid 
curve to the cutting edge that gives these birds a very grotesque 
expression, especially when seen in full-faced view. Undoubt- 
edly they hunt at night and rest in deep shade during the day; 
I have seen only a few specimens, and these were obtained by 
the merest chances. 
Two curious species of the endemic genus Sarcophanops, one 
of which inhabits Mindanao and Basilan, the other, Samar, 
are the only Philippine members of the order Eurylsemiformes. 
Little is known about the habits of these birds. They are usually 
found in small parties perching quietly among the branches of 
forest trees, and they display mdre curiousity than fear in the 
presence of man. The conspicuous characters of these birds 
are the broad bill, the bristles about the mouth, the ring of bare 
skin around the eye, the wedge-shaped tail, and the peculiar 
colors. In Sarcophanops steeri the bill, the fleshy wattle about 
the eye, and the feet are light blue; the iris is blue or green, 
depending upon the angle of the light. The chin, throat, and 
wings are black, the secondaries with a band of yellow and 
white near the middle; the top of the head is dark purple, sep- 
arated from the brown back by a white collar; the rump and 
the tail are bright chestnut. The breast and the sides are lilac 
in the male and white in the female. The length is about 175 
millimeters. 
One of the largest eagles known,®® Pithecophaga jefferyi Grant, 
inhabits the forests of Luzon, Samar, and Mindanao. It is 
“See Shufeldt, R. W., Philip. Journ. Sci. 15 (1919) 31. 
