White-chested Babbler

SCI Name:  Pellorneum rostratum
Protonym:  Tr[ichastoma]. rostratum J.Asiat.Soc.Bengal 11 p.795
Taxonomy:  Passeriformes / Pellorneidae / Pellorneum
Taxonomy Code:  whcbab1
Type Locality:  Singapore.
Author:  Blyth
Publish Year:  1842
IUCN Status:  Near Threatened

DEFINITIONS

PELLORNEUM
(Pellorneidae; Ϯ Puff-throated Babbler P. ruficeps) Gr. πελλος pellos  dark-coloured, dusky; ορνεον orneon  bird  < ορνις ornis, ορνιθος ornithos  bird; "Genus, PELLORNEUM*.   ...   Bill moderate, straight, somewhat conic; the tip notched.  Gonys ascending.  Frontal feathers small, rigid, directed forward.  Rictus bristled.  Wings very short, much rounded.  Tail moderate, graduated.  Tarsus and middle toe of equal length; lateral toes much shorter, equal.  Anterior claws very small, and but slightly curved.  Hinder toe shorter than the middle.  Anterior scales scarcely divided.   Type.—Pellorneum ruficeps, above brown, beneath fulvous white, striped with brown; chin white immaculate; front and crown rufous.  Inhabits India. MUS. NOST.   OBS.—This genus represents, or rather passes into Phyllastrephus; thus connecting the Crateropodinæ and the Brachypodinæ. From the former it is distinguished by its more slender thrush-like feet, its small slightly curved claws, &c. The general appearance of the only species I have yet seen, and which is from India, is that of a small thrush, but resembling a Timalia.   ...   *Th. πελλος fuscus, et ορνεον avis." (Swainson 1831).
Var. Pelorneum, Pellornium.
Synon. Bessethera, Cinclidia, Drymocataphus, Scotocichla.

rostratum / rostratus
L. rostratus  beaked, large-billed  < rostrum  beak.
● “nearly allied to Timalia, but having a moderately stout warbler’s bill” (Blyth 1842) (Trichastoma).

SUBSPECIES

White-chested Babbler (rostratum)
SCI Name: Pellorneum rostratum rostratum
rostratum / rostratus
L. rostratus  beaked, large-billed  < rostrum  beak.
● “nearly allied to Timalia, but having a moderately stout warbler’s bill” (Blyth 1842) (Trichastoma).

White-chested Babbler (macropterum)
SCI Name: Pellorneum rostratum macropterum
macroptera / macropterum
Gr. μακροπτερος makropteros  long-winged < μακρος makros  long; -πτερος -pteros  -winged  < πτερον pteron  wing.