Anthus gustavi Swinhoe, Proc. Zool. Soc. (1863), 90; Sharpe,
Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1885), 10, 613; Whitehead, Ibis (1899),
237; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 102.
Basilan (Steere, Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester, McGregor);
Bohol (McGregor); Cagayancillo (McGregor); Calayan (McGregor);
Cebu (McGregor); Guimaras (Steere Exp.); Leyte (Steere Exp.);
Lubang (McGregor); Luzon (Othberg, Heriot, Bourns & Worcester,
McGregor); Maestre de Campo (McGregor & Worcester); Masbate
(Bourns & Worcester); Mindanao (Goodfellow, Celestino); Mindoro
(McGregor); Negros (Whitehead); Palawan (Whitehead, Platen, Bourns
& Worcester); Polillo (McGregor); Romblon (Bourns & Worcester);
Sibuyan (Bourns & Worcester); Siquijor (Celestino); Sulu (Bourns &
Worcester); Tawi Tawi (Bourns & Worcester). Siberia, Kamtchatka,
Commander Islands, Celebes; in winter to Borneo and the Molucca
Islands; China during migration.
Adult.--Top of head, neck, and back tawny buff, each feather with a
wide mesial streak of blackish brown; on each side of mantle a series
of feathers each having either the inner or outer web buffy white,
forming on each side a conspicuous, but not well-defined, whitish
stripe; rump and tail-coverts darker than back, near raw-umber, with
narrower blackish shaft-streaks; supercilium light buff, but not
forming a well-defined line; ear-coverts tawny; malar stripe buff,
bounded below by a narrow blackish line; under parts white with a wash
of buff across the chest and with bold blackish streaks on breast,
sides, and flanks; wing-feathers blackish brown, edged with dark buff;
median and greater coverts tipped with white, forming two wing-bars;
rectrices blackish brown, the two outer pairs with considerable
white on the inner webs. A male from Calayan Island measures: Wing,
85; tail, 56; culmen from base, 16; tarsus, 22; hind toe with claw,
20. A female from northern Mindanao, wing, 80; tail, 56; culmen from
base, 15; tarsus, 22; hind toe with claw, 20.
Young birds differ from the adults in having the chin and throat
spotted with blackish brown.
The diagnostic characters of Anthus gustavi are the heavy streaks on
breast and sides, and the whitish streaks on the sides of the back.
The Petchora pipit is usually found skulking on the ground in forest;
it is never seen in flocks.