Podargus javensis Horsfield, Trans. Linn. Soc. (1821), 13,
pt. 1, 141.
Batrachostomus javensis Hartert, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1892),
16, 640; Sharpe, Hand-List (1900), 2, 43; McGregor and Worcester,
Hand-List (1906), 51.
Palawan (Whitehead, Everett, Steere Exp.). Borneo, Java, and
Sumatra.
"Rufous phase.--Deep reddish brown, with numerous fine black
vermiculations; an indistinct white band across the neck, and large
white spots on the scapulars; under surface deep reddish brown below,
with a broad pure white band across the upper breast, the feathers
of this part being white with dark terminal cross-bars, one distinct
and one generally obsolete, the bases being dark. Many feathers of
the breast have very large central spots of white, margined with a
black line; abdomen mingled with blackish, brownish, and a good deal
of isabelline.
"Brown phase.--Above dark brown, with many pale bars and
vermiculations; a broad distinct band of whitish across the hind neck
and much white on the scapulars; a good deal of creamy white on the
lower surface.
"Blackish phase.--Several specimens from Borneo are black or blackish
in color, the vermiculations white or whitish.
"The reddish specimens are probably females, the brown and the black
ones being probably males in different phases or perhaps representing
different ages.
"The size of all is about the same, the total length being about 229
to 254; wing, 135; tail, 132; tarsus, 14; culmen, 20; width of gape,
33 to 35.
"The specimens described above are all from Borneo. Two females in
the British Museum from Sumatra, in reddish plumage, are lighter than
those from Borneo, being rather of a cinnamon-rufous color. The patches
on the lower throat are cream-colored, with a cinnamon-rufous border
and a blackish subterminal bar, but without any further blackish bars.
"These differences, however, seem to me not constant after comparing
the material in the Leyden Museum; nevertheless, I have not yet
heard of any blackish specimens from Sumatra, and it must therefore
be left open to question at present whether it is possible to
separate the Sumatran and Bornean specimens specifically or
subspecifically." (Hartert.)