Batrachostomus menagei Bourns and Worcester, Minnesota
Acad. Nat. Sci. Occ. Papers (1894), 1, 11; Sharpe, Hand-List
(1900), 2, 43; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 51.
? Batrachostomus sp. inc. Clarke, Ibis (1900), 355.
Cow-cow, Negros.
Negros (Keay); Panay (Bourns & Worcester).
"Adult male.--Top of head rich dark-brown, slightly washed with
black; feathers of forehead buff, tipped with fulvous brown, forming
a distinct buff stripe reaching back to the eye; feathers of crown
lighter fulvous with spots of rufous-brown on the edges, each spot
being surrounded with black; some of the feathers tipped with rufous,
and having black subterminal bands; occiput and nape with less
black; elongated auriculars tawny-buff, with black spots and bars,
the tips being black; sides of face tawny-buff streaked with black,
lighter below; a distinct buffy white nuchal collar formed by white
subterminal bars on feathers of neck, the bases of which are dark buff
thickly vermiculated with black; their tips are black, and a black
band intervenes between the white subterminal band and the buffy bases
of the feathers; feathers of back dark brown, thickly vermiculated
with black; feathers of rump fulvous-brown, spotted with black and
reddish brown toward their tips, these colors assuming the form of
irregular bands on upper tail-coverts; a few of the shorter scapulars
almost black with irregular bars of dark rufous-brown; outer webs of
longer scapulars light buff, the two outermost feathers entirely of
this color; the next scapulars have inner webs thickly vermiculated
with black; inner and longest scapulars have both webs marked in this
manner, their inner webs being the darker; last of the longer scapulars
with an irregular terminal spot of black; lesser wing-coverts nearly
black, tipped with chocolate-brown; bases of primary-coverts fulvous
brown, their outer webs heavily spotted with rufous-brown, inner webs
less so, and a subterminal bar of black crossing entire outer web
and half of inner web, all the feathers tipped with prominent spots
of creamy white; secondary-coverts like primary-coverts but the black
bar and white spot confined to outer web; primaries fulvous-brown when
held toward light, changing to smoky brown when held away from light;
outer webs spotted with buffy white throughout their entire length,
the spots being much lighter on the second and third primaries; tips of
feathers mottled with rufous-brown; general color of secondaries same
as primaries, their outer webs and tips being spotted with rufous-brown
and these spots in turn being speckled with fulvous-brown; inner three
secondaries speckled with fulvous-brown, rufous-brown, and creamy
white, each feather with a terminal spot of fulvous; general color
of tail rufous-brown, distinctly barred with lighter rufous-brown,
each of these bars succeeded by a narrow irregular bar of black, the
entire feather thickly speckled with black and each feather having
a small black terminal spot; throat and fore breast like sides of
face; a buffy white pectoral band continuous with nuchal collar and
succeeded by a second creamy white band, the feathers between the two
bands being brown, thickly vermiculated with black and creamy white;
abdomen lighter; flanks and under tail-coverts ashy, slightly tinged
with pinkish, some of the feathers with dark black shaft-stripes,
others with small terminal spots of black; under surface of tail much
like coverts, the black markings of upper surface showing only faintly;
shafts of tail-feathers creamy white; under wing-coverts fulvous-brown,
tipped with white; axillars white. Eyes pale yellow; legs, feet, and
nails nearly white; upper mandible brown, lower dirty green. Culmen,
27; wing, 139; tail, 105; tarsus, 15.
"Food, beetles. Native name 'cow-cow.' The single specimen
obtained is a fully adult male; its rich and complicated markings
are very difficult to describe. We have named it in honor of
Mr. Menage." (Bourns and Worcester.)
Female.--"Head and hind neck a fine mixture of black and fulvous, the
feathers terminally barred with broader bands of these tints, producing
a spotted appearance; an indistinct buff band from the forehead over
the eye; elongated auriculars fulvous, banded and tipped with black;
nuchal collar banded with buff, fulvous, and black; mantle and lower
back reddish brown, closely vermiculated with black and darker than
the head; upper tail-coverts similar, but more coarsely vermiculated;
scapulars plain cinnamon on the outer webs, vermiculated with black
on the inner webs, each feather with a subapical spot of black;
wing-coverts like the back; some of the feathers with conspicuous
apical spots of white; primary-coverts chiefly black; primaries
cinnamon, barred with dusky on the outer webs, dusky on the inner
webs; secondaries cinnamon, irregularly barred and mottled with
black on the outer webs, dusky in the center and on the inner webs;
tertials cinnamon, vermiculated with black; tail cinnamon-rufous,
with transverse bands of a dark tint, which are narrowly margined with
black; chin, throat, and breast tawny, finely banded with black, the
concealed portions of the feathers of the upper breast being white,
subterminally and mesially banded with black; feathers of the lower
breast and abdomen chiefly whitish, margined with tawny slightly
vermiculated with dusky; thighs and under tail-coverts buff. Wing,
140; tail, 106; tarsus, 18; culmen, 25." (Clarke.)
There can be little doubt that the specimen described above is really
the female of B. menagei. Birds of this genus are so complex in colors
and so scarce in collections that it is very difficult to arrive at
a satisfactory understanding of their plumages and relationships.