Gallinula phoenicurus Pennant, Ind. Zool. (1769), 10, pl. 9.
Amaurornis phoenicura Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1894), 23,
156; Hand-List (1899), 1, 106; Oates, Cat. Birds' Eggs (1901),
1, 121, pl. 9, fig. 5.
Amaurornis phoenicura Blanford, Fauna Brit. Ind. Birds (1898),
4, 173, fig. 36 (head).
Amauronis phoenicura McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906),
18 (error).
Sally-quawk, in general use.
Basilan (Bourns & Worcester, McGregor); Bohol (McGregor);
Bongao (Everett); Cagayan Sulu (McGregor); Calamianes (Bourns &
Worcester); Cebu (McGregor); Marinduque (Steere Exp.); Mindanao
(Everett, Martens, Koch & Schadenberg, Steere Exp., Bourns &
Worcester); Mindoro (Bourns & Worcester, McGregor); Palawan
(Platen, White); Panay (Bourns & Worcester); Siquijor (Bourns &
Worcester, Celestino); Sulu (Guillemard); Tawi Tawi (Bourns &
Worcester). Indian and Malay Peninsulas, Ceylon, Indo-Burmese
Provinces, China, Greater and Lesser Sunda Islands, Celebes.
Adult (sexes alike).--Above including wings dark slate-gray; middle of
neck, back, and inner secondaries washed with olive; lower back, rump,
and upper tail-coverts dull brown; forehead, eyebrow, face, sides of
neck, chin, throat, and breast white; from behind eye a black streak
separating the gray above from the white below, abdomen and thighs
washed with light chestnut; flanks and under tail-coverts chestnut;
some of the upper tail-coverts slightly chestnut; alula and primaries
blackish, first feather of each edged with white; edge of wing white;
under wing-coverts blackish, fringed with white; tail blackish. Iris
dark brown; upper mandible red behind nostril, remainder dark green;
lower mandible pea-green; legs yellowish brown or light brown.
Length, 292 to 305. A male from Danao, Cebu, August 2, 1906, measures:
Wing, 147; tail, 63; culmen from base, 38; tarsus, 56; middle toe with
claw, 65. A male from Palawan, January 17, 1906, measures: Wing, 156;
tail, 69; culmen from base, 37; tarsus, 56; middle toe with claw,
64. A female from Basilan, December 21, 1906, measures: Wing, 147;
tail, 58; culmen from base, 35; tarsus, 53; middle toe with claw, 63.
"A very common bird in marshy regions and along fresh-water
streams. Called 'sally-quawk' by the natives from its notes." (Bourns
and Worcester MS.)
Genus GALLINULA Brisson, 1760.
Bill moderate, the culmen extending backward on the forehead to
opposite center of eye and forming a tumid shield with rounded
posterior margin; toes with a narrow fold on each side; middle toe
without claw longer than tarsus; plumage black with white on flanks
and under tail-coverts.