Parra gallinacea Temminck, Pl. Col. (1831), 5, pl. 464.
Hydralector gallinaceus Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1896), 24,
79; Hand-List (1899), 1, 168; Oates, Cat. Birds' Eggs (1902), 2,
73; Mearns, Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash. (1905), 13, 89; McGregor and
Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 30.
Mindanao (Mearns). Australia, Celebes, southern Borneo.
"Adult male.--Above bronzy brown, more dingy on the lower back
and rump; upper tail-coverts and tail black, all but the center
tail-feathers white at base; wing-coverts like the back; marginal
coverts, alula, primary-coverts, and quills black, with a slight
bluish gloss; inner secondaries bronzy brown like the back; forehead
behind the lappet to center of crown, sides of face, and sides of neck
golden straw-color; throat white, inclining to golden straw-color on
fore neck; an infra-loral streak of black from fore part of cheeks to
fore part of eye; hinder crown black, extending in a broad line down
hind neck and overspreading upper mantle; chest, breast, and sides
of body, as well as under wing-coverts and axillars, sooty black;
entire abdomen, lower flanks, thighs, and under tail-coverts white;
quills glossy black below. 'Bill greenish gray at the extreme tip, then
black to near nostrils; basal portion of upper mandible and the helmet
aurora-red; base of lower mandible light primrose-yellow; fore part
of tibia red, with a mixture in patches of yellow and greenish gray;
iris light sulphur-yellow; eyelash light ash-gray.' (Gould.) Length,
229; culmen with frontal lappet, 46; wing, 142; tail, 41; tarsus,
61; middle toe with claw, 91.
"Adult female.--Resembles the male in color but is decidedly larger;
a male from Port Essington measures 178 in length and has the wing
119, while a female from the same place measures 215 in length and
has the wing 142.
"Young.--Differs considerably from the adult. General color olive-brown
above, the feathers with sandy-rufous margins; crown bright rufous;
under surface entirely white." (Sharpe.)
Suborder CURSORII.
Family GLAREOLIDÆ.
Bill short; culmen curved; gape deeply cleft, its width greater
than length of culmen; wings long and pointed reaching beyond the
forked tail; tarsus twice the length of culmen from base and more
than middle toe with claw; claw of middle toe half the length of its
toe and pectinate on its inner edge.
Genus GLAREOLA Brisson, 1760.
Characters same as those given for the Family.