Fulica cinerea Gmelin, Syst. Nat. (1788), 1, pt. 2, 702.
Gallicrex cinerea Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1894), 23, 183;
Hand-List (1899), 1, 108; Grant, Ibis (1895), 265; Blanford,
Fauna Brit. Ind. Bds. (1898), 4, 176, fig. 38 (head); Oates,
Cat. Birds' Eggs (1901), 1, 125; pl. 10, fig. 6; McGregor and
Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 18.
Can-nu-toc', Manila; tub-tub, Ticao; tu-yud', Bohol; tug-tug,
Masbate.
Bantayan (McGregor); Bohol (McGregor); Catanduanes (Whitehead);
Cebu (Bourns & Worcester); Luzon (Dussumier, Cuming, Heriot,
McGregor); Marinduque (Steere Exp.); Masbate (Bourns &
Worcester); Mindanao (Bourns & Worcester, Goodfellow); Mindoro
(Bourns & Worcester); Negros (Keay); Panay (Bourns & Worcester);
Sibuyan (McGregor); Sulu (Guillemard); Tablas (Celestino); Ticao
(McGregor). Ceylon, Burmese provinces to China and Japan, Malay
and Indian Peninsulas, Greater Sunda Islands.
"Adult male.--General color above black, with a few remains of ashy
gray margins to the feathers, or with brown edgings to the scapulars,
lower back, and rump; upper wing-coverts blackish, broadly edged
with ashy gray; bend of wing white; alula, primary-coverts, and
quills blackish brown, slightly shaded with gray externally, first
primary externally white; inner secondaries edged with light brown;
tail-feathers blackish, edged with brown; head and neck all round
and under surface of body deep black; a few whitish feathers on
lower abdomen; under tail-coverts buffy white, with black bars;
under wing-coverts black, barred and edged with white; axillars
black like the sides of the breast. 'Frontal shield and base of
upper mandible deep red; remainder of bill yellow, a spot on each
side of lower mandible red; frontal process or horn pinkish; legs
plumbeous green; claws horn-color; iris reddish brown; eyelids
plumbeous.' (Oates.) Length, 419; culmen with frontal shield, 69;
wing, 218; tail, 74; tarsus, 79.
"According to Oates, the male in winter has the fleshy process on
the head reduced in size or nearly obsolete.
"Adult female.--General color above dark brown with a slight ashy
shade, the feathers with sandy buff margins, so that the upper
surface appears streaked; lower back and rump rather more uniform;
wing-coverts ashy gray, the greater series browner, with fulvous
margins like the inner secondaries, which have dusky frecklings also
on the outer web; alula ashy brown, the outer feathers edged with
white; primary-coverts and quills brown, externally shaded with ashy;
first primary white along the outer web; tail-feathers dark brown,
edged with lighter brown; crown uniform dark brown, forming a cap;
hind neck like the back; lores, eyebrow, sides of face, and sides of
neck dark sandy buff; throat and center of the abdomen white; remainder
of under surface from the lower throat downwards pale isabelline buff,
crossed with narrow wavy bars of dusky brown; lower flanks rather more
uniform ashy brown; under tail-coverts more tawny, with dusky brown
cross-bars; under wing-coverts and axillars uniform ashy brown, the
edge of the wing white; quills uniform ashy brown below. Length, 305;
culmen, 38; wing, 173; tail, 66; tarsus, 68; middle toe with claw, 91.
"Young.--Resembles the old female, but much more tawny everywhere,
especially on the sides of face, neck, and under parts, the latter
being much more narrowly and indistinctly barred with dusky brown
than in the adult birds." (Sharpe.)
"A male and female adult from Catanduanes in the brownish buff plumage
of autumn and winter. Neither Dr. Sharpe, in his Catalogue, nor any
other author, so far as I am aware, makes the slightest reference
to the autumn change of plumage which is so marked in the male,
only the breeding dress being described, in which the whole of the
hind neck and under parts, as well as the general color of the upper
parts, are black. In the fully adult male before me the whole of the
under parts from the throat downward are pale buff with rather fine,
somewhat wavy, brownish black bars, except on the middle of the belly,
which is paler and nearly devoid of markings; the under tail-coverts
have the ground-color more rufous-buff; the rest of the plumage also
resembles that of the female. The latter does not appear to have any
different breeding plumage, or, if she changes, the feathers are very
similar to those of the autumn dress." (Grant.)
"Abundant about paddy-fields in some localities. It nests on the ground
in these fields, and the natives found a number of nests for us while
cutting rice. They call the bird tug-túg from its note." (Bourns and
Worcester MS.)
In an adult male from Sibuyan, June 7, 1904, the head and mantle are
light slate-gray with dark centers to the feathers and the lower parts
are pale slate-gray with numerous light colored cross-lines. Frontal
shield and bill to proximal edge of nostril scarlet; base of lower
mandible scarlet; rest of bill pea-green; legs dull green; nails
dark gray. Length, 432; wing, 241; tail, 86; bill from gape, 37;
bill from nostril, 21; tarsus, 81; middle toe with claw, 94.
In an adult male from Guindulman, Bohol, June 3, 1906, the head,
face, and lower parts are largely black and except on top of head,
the greater number of the feathers are fringed with pale buff or
white. Length, 419; wing, 235; tail, 87; bill from gape, 36; bill
from nostril, 19; tarsus, 77; middle toe with claw, 94.
Genus PORPHYRIO Brisson, 1760.
Bill stout and very deep; nostrils circular; frontal shield broad,
covering the entire forehead, its posterior border square; legs and
toes very long and heavy.