Baza leucopias Sharpe, Ibis (1888), 195 (error).
Baza leucopais Whitehead, Ibis (1890), 43, pl. 2; Sharpe, Hand-List
(1899), 1, 271; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 44.
Palawan (Whitehead); Romblon (Bourns & Worcester); Samar (Bourns
& Worcester).
"Young female.--General color above brown, with whitish brown margins
to the feathers; lesser wing-coverts brown, the inner ones rufous,
with brown centers; median and greater coverts pale rufous, white
externally toward the ends and round the tips; alula dark brown,
externally rufous; primary-coverts uniform dark brown; quills dark
brown fringed with white round the ends, and crossed with blackish
brown bars, four in number, one subterminal; secondaries paler brown,
externally rufous; upper tail-coverts tawny-rufous, edged with white
and with dark brown centers; tail-feathers dark brown, narrowly
fringed with white at the ends, and crossed with blackish bands, the
subterminal one very broad, but not nearly so wide as the preceding
interspace; a crest of white feathers, the long ones freckled with
brown; head, nape, and hind neck, lores, sides of face, ear-coverts,
cheeks, sides of neck, and entire under surface of body pure white,
slightly washed with rufous on the head and hind neck; the breast,
abdomen, and under tail-coverts washed with creamy buff; the sides of
the body and flanks with slight indications of spots of pale tawny
buff; under wing-coverts and axillars like the breast; quills below
ashy gray, with blackish bars on the primaries. Length, 394; culmen,
29; wing, 274; tail, 178; tarsus, 35.
"The typical [=type] specimen, though manifestly immature, differs
thoroughly from the young of B. sumatrensis, and I feel sure that
the adult bird, when discovered, will be markedly distinct." (Sharpe.)
"Rare and shy. Iris, legs, and feet yellow; nails black; bill black,
slaty at base; bare flesh of head greenish yellow. One specimen had
been eating crabs when shot.
"A male measures 457 in length; wing, 312; tail, 199; culmen, 27;
tarsus, 76; middle toe with claw, 40. A female, 457 in length;
wing, 305; tail, 208; culmen, 26; tarsus, 64; middle toe with claw,
43." (Bourns and Worcester MS.)
The adult of this rare species appears to be undescribed.
Genus MICROHIERAX Sharpe, 1874.
Bill strong; edge of mandible with a double notch forming a sharp
tooth; cere small; no crest; first primary nearly equal to second
and third which are the longest; secondaries short; tarsus and feet
strong; plumage black and white; length less than 200 mm.
Species.
a1. Slightly smaller. ... erythrogenys (p. 238)
a2. Slightly larger. ... meridionalis (p. 239)