Rallus striatus Linnæus, Syst. Nat. ed. 12 (1766), 1, 262.
Hypotænidia striata Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1894), 23, 33;
Hand-List (1899), 1, 95; Oates, Cat. Bird's Eggs (1901), 1, 111;
McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 15.
Tic-líng, general name for rails.
Calamianes (Bourns & Worcester); Cebu (Everett); Guimaras (Steere
Exp.); Leyte (Everett); Luzon (Cuming, McGregor, Gevers); Mindanao
(Everett, Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester, Goodfellow); Mindoro
(McGregor, Porter); Negros (Steere Exp., Keay); Palawan (Celestino,
White); Panay (Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester); Samar (Steere
Exp.); Sibuyan (Bourns & Worcester); Siquijor (Bourns & Worcester);
Sulu (Guillemard). Burmese countries to China, Malay Peninsula,
Indo-Malay Islands, Southern India, Ceylon, Formosa, Celebes.
Adult male.--Above olive-brown, feathers centered with black and
barred with broken white lines; crown, neck, and sides of neck dull
chestnut, brighter on the last; center of crown blackish; chin and
upper throat; lores, sides of face, and ear-coverts, lower throat,
fore neck, and breast slate-gray; posterior lower part of body,
under wing-coverts, and axillars blackish barred with white; alula
blackish brown; primary-coverts and primaries blackish brown spotted
and barred with white; tail and its coverts similar to the back. "Basal
half of bill rose-pink, the anterior half horn-color; legs and toes
deep olive-brown; claws pale brown; iris red." (Oates.) Length, 246;
culmen, 38; wing, 120; tail, 47; tarsus, 37.
"Adult female.--Similar to the male, but paler and decidedly more
olive, head not so bright chestnut; white bars on lower parts much
tinged with fulvous. Length, 240; culmen, 35; wing, 110; tail, 41;
tarsus, 35.
"In winter the plumage is entirely overshaded with olive-brown and
there is a distinct fulvescent tinge on abdomen and under tail-coverts,
almost hiding the black bars on the latter.
"Young.--Differs from the adults in having the bill black, and the
upper surface much darker and without any white spots and bars on
the back; head blackish, and back darker olive-brown with broad black
centers to the feathers; no rufous on the head or sides of crown and
sides of neck." (Sharpe.)