Porphyrio pulverulentus Temminck, Pl. Col. (1826), 5, pl. 405;
Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1894), 23, 207; Hand-List (1899),
1, 109; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 18.
Ac-bag', Manila; ca-rab' a-bu-hon', Bohol.
Bohol (McGregor); Luzon (Steere Exp., McGregor); Mindanao (Mearns);
Mindoro (Bourns & Worcester).
Adult male.--General color hoary blue, lighter on head, neck,
and fore breast; much darker, nearly navy blue on abdomen; crissum
white; scapulars and upper back rich olive-brown or russet-brown,
the feathers edged more or less with blue; lower back, rump, and
upper tail-coverts duller brown; primaries black, their outer webs
verditer-blue; short under wing-coverts blue, the longer ones black;
tail blackish edged with verditer-blue.
In a male from the Manila market, March 24, 1903, the bill and
shield were dusky cardinal; a space back of nostril and at base of
lower mandible whitish; iris reddish brown; legs and feet reddish
brown, joints dusky; nails brown. Length, 432; tail, 88; culmen from
posterior margin of shield, 74; bill from gape, 41; bill from nostril,
32; tarsus, 93; middle toe with claw, 108.
Adult female.--Similar to the male. A female from Guindulman, Bohol,
June 20, 1906, measures: Length, 394; wing, 236; tail, 88; culmen from
posterior margin of shield, 67; bill from gape, 35; bill from nostril,
28; tarsus, 83; middle toe with claw, 99.
"Young.--Differs from the adult in being slightly duller in color,
in having the quills externally washed with olive, and the breast and
abdomen obscured by hoary whitish edgings to the feathers." (Sharpe.)
"Enormously abundant in the reeds about Lake Naujan in Mindoro, but
a shy bird, and one not easily obtained except by snaring." (Bourns
and Worcester MS.)
Subfamily FULICINÆ.
Genus FULICA Linnæus, 1758.
Anterior toes with a number of rounded lobes on each side; frontal
shield rounded.