Oriolus lineatus Scopoli, Del. Flor. et Faun. Insubr. (1786),
2, 87.
Excalfactoria lineata Grant, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1893), 22, 253;
Sharpe, Hand-List (1899), 1, 32; Oates, Cat. Birds' Eggs (1901),
1, 48, pl. 4, fig. 2; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 7.
Pu-gong bú-quet, ti-co ti-co, Manila; pu-gong pa-rang, Calapan,
Mindoro.
Basilan (McGregor); Batan (McGregor); Bongao (Everett); Calamianes
(Bourns & Worcester); Cebu (Bourns & Worcester); Lubang (McGregor);
Luzon (Heriot, Whitehead, McGregor); Masbate (Bourns & Worcester);
Mindanao (Koch & Schadenberg, Clemens); Mindoro (McGregor,
Porter); Negros (Layard, Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester); Palawan
(Whitehead, Bourns & Worcester, White); Panay (Bourns & Worcester);
Samar (Whitehead); Sibuyan (McGregor); Siquijor (Celestino); Sulu
(Guillemard); Ticao (McGregor). Sumatra, Java, Borneo, Australia.
Adult male.--Upper parts dark brown; most of the feathers with light
shaft-lines, large subterminal black blotches, and some black bars; the
black markings heaviest on lower back; forehead, circumorbital area,
sides of neck, breast, and flanks slate-blue; chin, upper throat,
and lower half of face black; throat patch bordered posteriorly by
a wide, crescentic, white patch which is bordered posteriorly by
a narrow black band; a white included patch on side of face from
lower mandible to below ear, the anterior end of which is pointed;
a narrow white line from below nostril to eye; a patch of rich
chestnut covering middle of abdomen and lower breast; wings sandy
brown; coverts and secondaries vermiculated with darker brown; tail
chestnut; upper tail-coverts chestnut mixed with slate-blue. Iris
deep red; bill dark blue, black along upper part; legs dark yellow;
nails brown. Length about 135. Five males measure: Wing, 66 to 70;
tail-coverts, [4] 26 to 28; exposed culmen, 9 to 11; tarsus, 18 to 19.
Adult female.--Upper parts and wings as in the male, but with a light
buff, median line on head; forehead, sides of head, and throat dark
buff; the black and white throat patch of male replaced in female by
an equal area of dark buff in which the white bases of feathers show
through on chin and upper throat; a line of fine black spots from
gape to below ear-coverts; breast and flanks light buff, each feather
crossed by one to three crescentic marks of blackish brown; middle of
abdomen white or with a pale buff wash. Five females measure: Wing,
67 to 71; tail-coverts, 22 to 26; exposed culmen, 10 to 11; tarsus,
17 to 18.5.
Young.--In a very young chick from Sibuyan, sex undetermined, the
upper parts, including wings and coverts, are blackish brown; top of
head marked with three buffy lines extending from forehead to nape
and separated by wide blackish brown bands; wing-coverts and feathers
of back with edges and shafts buff; chin and throat pale yellow;
upper breast, sides, and flanks black with wide white shaft-stripes;
belly dirty yellowish buff. A nearly full grown male in mixed plumage,
from Calapan, has the black chin-spot developed, the white patches
partly developed, and the breast, abdomen, and flanks retain some
of the old striped feathers of the first plumage along with the new
chestnut and slate feathers. The young female of E. chinensis is said
to have the upper breast and sides spotted; as age increases these
spots resolve themselves into transverse bars. The young female of
E. lineata probably undergoes a similar change of plumage.
Both the painted and bustard quails frequent grassy fields and
plains, usually in small companies. When flushed they fly but a
short distance and seldom get up a second time, seeming to place more
reliance on running than on flight. Except Polyplectron the genera
of the Philippine Turnicidæ and Phasianidæ range from the coasts to
the highlands.
Genus GALLUS Brisson, 1760.
Head surmounted by a fleshy comb; a wattle on each side of throat;
tail laterally compressed, the central feathers being higher than the
lateral ones; the former greatly elongated and curved in the males;
feathers of neck and rump long and pointed; each tarsus armed with
a long sharp spur.