Caprimulgus macrotis Vigors, Proc. Zool. Soc. (1831), 97.
Lyncornis mindanensis Tweeddale, Proc. Zool. Soc. (1878), 945.
Lyncornis macrotis Hartert, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1892), 16,
605; Grant, Ibis (1894), 519; Whitehead, Ibis (1899), 383; Sharpe,
Hand-List (1900), 2, 81; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906),
57; McGregor, Phil. Jour. Sci. (1907), 2, sec. A, 284.
Basilan (Bourns & Worcester, Celestino); Luzon (Lindsay,
Möllendorff, Steere Exp., Whitehead, Celestino); Mindanao (Everett,
Celestino); Mindoro (McGregor, Porter).
Adult (sexes alike).--Head light chocolate-brown, very finely
vermiculated with gray and buff; along middle of head and on ear-tufts
a number of large black spots; lower feathers of ear-tufts pure black;
a rusty collar on neck continued on sides of neck and connected with
the white spot on each side of throat; sides of face and ear-coverts
black, vermiculated with cinnamon; wings, coverts, and back variously
mottled and splotched with black, ocherous-buff, and cinnamon;
scapulars with large black terminal spots; primaries, secondaries,
and lesser coverts black with dark cinnamon vermiculations; a few
of the median coverts with buff spots on tips; rectrices black
with a few irregular mottled bars of dark buff; feathers of lower
parts black, on chin and crop with narrow cross-lines of cinnamon,
on breast tipped with wide bands of dark buff, on abdomen and sides
tipped with narrower bands of light buff; under tail-coverts largely
buff with irregular black cross-lines. "Iris brown; bill clear brown,
tip black; feet clear brown, their scales darker brown." (Celestino.)
Length of a male from Mindoro, 348; wing, 275; tail, 170; exposed
culmen, 10; tarsus, 18; middle toe with claw, 29. Length of a female
from Bataan Province, Luzon, 368; wing, 290; tail, 180; exposed culmen,
9; tarsus, 17; middle toe with claw, 29.
The crown is often largely rufous, again it may be ochraceous and the
variations involve other portions of the plumage. The bars of the tail
are variable, sometimes fairly regular and at other times much broken.
"We obtained a single male specimen of this fine goatsucker in
Basilan. Iris very dark brown; bill black at tip, lighter at base;
eyelids black; legs flesh-color, shading to dark brown on the toes;
nails dirty grayish. Length, 343; wing, 276; tail, 223; tarsus, 16;
middle toe with claw, 29; culmen, 13." (Bourns and Worcester MS.)
"If these two forms [L. macrotis and L. mindanensis], the types of
which are before me, are really distinct species, then both occur
in north Luzon, for out of four specimens of Lyncornis sent by
Mr. Whitehead, three are typical L. macrotis, perfectly similar to
Vigors's bird, and the fourth agrees perfectly with Tweeddale's types
of L. mindanensis. Personally I am inclined to believe that the latter
are merely younger examples of the same species. The darker head and
shorter wing may be characteristic of youth, as it seems unlikely
two closely allied forms should occur in the same locality." (Grant.)
Whitehead thus describes the habits of this species: "Fairly common in
the lower valleys in the mountainous districts of north Luzon. This
species has the pretty habit of its Malay cousin L. temmincki. Just
at the last moment of the tropical day, when the highest heavens
are tinged with the soft light of the setting sun, Lyncornis leaves
its bed among the dead leaves and grass and flies high into the air,
rising and descending with vertically held wings, uttering every now
and then its pretty whistle, 'tet-a-bow, tet-a-bow.' But soon when the
last rays have ceased to gild the sky, it descends to mother earth
to feed on winged insects, its pretty note being then exchanged for
a frog-like croak. Toward sunrise Lyncornis once more rises to the
heavens and utters the same 'tet-a-bow,' but it shortly dives to the
ground, and rests unseen until the evening light again tempts it from
its concealment."
Genus CAPRIMULGUS Linnæus, 1758.
Wings long and pointed, first primary shorter than second; rictal
bristles conspicuous, no ear-tufts on sides of head; males generally
distinguished by having large white spots on wings and tail.
Species.