Gracula cristatella Linnæus, Syst. Nat. ed. 10 (1758), 1, 109.
Acridotheres cristatellus Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1890),
13, 92; Whitehead, Ibis (1899), 241.
Ætheopsar cristatellus Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1890), 13,
666; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 108.
Mar-tí-nez, Manila.
Luzon (Meyer, Everett, Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester, McGregor,
Celestino, Bartsch). Central and southern China.
Adult (sexes similar).--General color black, slightly ashy on the
breast; crown and back faintly glossed with green and purple; under
tail-coverts and rectrices tipped with white; a wide basal band of
white across the primaries. Male from Manila: Iris yellow-ocher;
bill pale green, brown at base; legs and feet dark yellow; nails
horn-color. Length, 270; wing, 134; tail, 83; culmen from base,
25; bill from nostril, 17; tarsus, 39. Female from Manila: Iris
light orange with a narrow outer yellow ring; bill greenish white;
legs dull yellow; nails horn-gray. Length, 250; wing, 130; tail, 81;
culmen from base, 25; bill from nostril, 16; tarsus, 38.
"Young.--Brown instead of black, with no crest on the head, only the
frontal plumes being close-set. 'Bill yellowish horn-color; roof of
mouth, inside of bill, and tip of tongue yellow, the rest flesh-color
with a bluish-black tinge; legs light brownish yellow on the under
parts, sole, and joints of scales, the rest purplish brown, darker
on the claws; iris slight greenish yellow.' (R. Swinhoe.)" (Sharpe.)
"Very abundant about the city of Manila. Quite common about the Laguna
de Bay." (Bourns and Worcester MS.)
Genus SARCOPS Walden, 1875.
Bill stout and as long as head; culmen gently curved; base of upper
mandible covered with short feathers as far as the nostrils, but
the latter exposed; rictal bristles short; sides and top of head
naked, except a narrow median line; tail a little shorter than wing;
rectrices graduated; upper parts largely silvery gray; wings, tail,
and under parts black.