Chapter XXXV: Preface (34)

[72] The original description of Macronous kettlewelli follows: "Brunneus; dorsi plumis filiformibus, elongatis, versus basin nigricantibus; rachide, et partibus plumæ rachidi adjacentibus, albidis; alis fulvescenti-brunneis, exterius pallidioribus; supracaudalibus caudaque pallide castaneis; pileo dorso concolori, rachidibus plumarum albidis; fronte nigricante, magis distincte striata; superciliis, loris et regione parotica nigricantibus, albo lineatis; genis et corpore toto subtus pallide cervinis; hypochondriis brunnescentibus; gula summa et abdomine medio albicantibus; gutture et corporis lateribus vix albido lineatis; subalaribus pectori concoloribus; iride smaragdinea; rostro et pedibus brunneis. Long. tot. circa 0.140 m; al. 0.063 m; caud. 0.070 m; rostr. 0.015 m; tars. 0.024 m." (Guillemard.)

[73] For detailed characters of the Turdidæ the reader is referred to Seebohm, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1881), 5, 2; and to Birds of North and Middle America, Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus. Washington (1907), 50, pt. 4, 1 to 4.

[74] This key to the Philippine species of Planesticus is taken from a paper by Mearns, Phil. Journ. Sci. (1907), 2, sec. A, 359.

[75] Birds of the genus Planesticus are called "blackbirds" in Europe and "robins" in the United States; as both of these names are in common use for birds of entirely different genera I have employed the name "black thrush" for the Philippine species of Planesticus.

[76] I use Forster's name for this rock thrush on the recommendation of Dr. C. W. Richmond.

[77] Cf. Grant, Ibis (1896), 117.

[78] I follow Sharpe in alloting Lanius validirostris and L. nasutus to Cephalophoneus. The type of this genus is said to be Lanius bucephalus, a species resembling Lanius validirostris in length of tail and turgidity of bill. These two species appear to be congeneric. In L. nasutus, however, the tail is much longer; the rectrices are more strongly graduated and relatively narrower. Possibly another genus should be recognized for nasutus and suluensis.

[79] Philippine specimens of this genus have usually been referred to Lanius (Otomela) lucionensis, but both O. cristata and O. superciliosa are credited to the Philippines in Sharpe's Hand-List and for this reason they are included here. Having no specimens of undoubted identity I am unable to determine many of the specimens of shrikes in the Bureau of Science collection. Of the last two species mentioned I give the distribution and short descriptions on the authority of Dresser.

The following paragraphs may be of use in distinguishing the three species.

"L. superciliosus Latham * * * has the entire upper surface very bright uniform rufous, a very broad frontal band, a very broad superciliary stripe, and the throat pure white; the inner webs of the basal parts of the primaries white underneath, which shows through on the upper surface of the quills at their insertion, almost forming a white, yet concealed alar bar; shoulder-edge and under shoulder-coverts pure white.

"L. cristatus Linnæus has the head, nape, rump, upper tail-coverts, and tail rufous, but less bright and browner than in L. superciliosus. The back is colored with the same tint, but paler or less rufous. The chin and upper part of the throat are white; but the tawny hue of the breast extends higher up than in either L. superciliosus or in L. lucionensis; and all the throat is usually washed with tawny.

"The white frontal band is narrow and ill-defined; and the white supercilium is much less prominent than in L. superciliosus. The quills at their insertions show indications, although slight, of a rudimentary alar bar. The shoulder-edge and under shoulder-coverts are tawny. The female is colored as the male, but has the subocular stripe brown and not black and the sides of the breast and flanks more or less striated and freckled with faint brown marks.

"L. lucionensis Linnæus has the forehead and crown delicate pale pearl-gray, no pure white whatever on the forehead. A narrow white supercilium commences above the eye, becoming somewhat broader behind, and shading off into the gray of the head. The occiput, nape, and back are ashy liver-brown. The rump, upper tail-coverts, and tail are washed with rufous, most marked on the upper tail-coverts; the chin and throat pure white, as in L. superciliosus; shoulder-edge and under shoulder-coverts pure white; indications of a concealed white alar bar, as in L. cristatus; and the female has the sexual distinguishing characters of that species. The almost entire absence of rufous in the plumage of the adult Philippine species suffices to distinguish it at a glance from L. cristatus and L. superciliosus." Walden, Trans. Zool. Soc. (1875), 9, 171, 172.

[80] "Adult male.--Similar to typical Hyloterpe apoensis, but paler throughout, with crown brownish instead of grayish; under parts canary-yellow instead of lemon-yellow; slightly smaller. Wing, 78; tail, 67; culmen, 14; bill from nostril, 9.2; tarsus, 17.5. 'Iris brown. Bill black.'

"Adult female * * *.--Paler and dingier than the male; under parts pale canary-yellow from throat backward. Wing, 71; tail, 61; tarsus, 17.5.

"Remarks.--Specimens in the U. S. National Museum, collected on the Island of Siquijor, Philippine Islands, by F. S. Bourns and D. C. Worcester, are exactly like Basilan specimens taken in February, 1888, and must be included as belonging to this species. Lowland birds from Mindanao Island connect the forms apoensis and basilanica." (Mearns.)

Specimens from Siquijor, although larger than true H. apoensis, seem to be nearly like this species in color.

[81] The titmouse of Sulu and Tawi Tawi is probably not true Parus elegans.

[82] The construction of a key to the species of silvereyes is rendered very difficult by the nature of the characters upon which a number of the species are based. Some of the species can be determined only by the actual comparison of specimens in fresh plumage. Immediately following the molt, the colors are bright and yellowish, but after a few months the feathers become much abraded and the colors become duller, dingier and greener.

[83] The identity of Porter's Caluya specimen with Zosterops aureiloris is somewhat doubtful.

[84] Gould's type came from "Manila," its collector is unknown and Dicæum retrocinctum has not been found in Luzon by any recent collector. It seems probable that the type was not collected in Luzon.

[85] Steere did not record this species from Marinduque, but in Bourns and Worcester's MS. notes I find the remark: "Doubtless also Marinduque." Cf. also Worcester and Bourns, Distribution List, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. Washington (1898), 20, 560, no. 361.

[86] Sharpe's original diagnosis of Dicæum sibutuense is as follows: "D. simile, D. trigonostigmati, sed gutture saturate schistaceo, macula dorsale aurantiaca distinguendum. Long. tot. 3.2 poll., culm. 0.45, alæ 2.0, caudæ 0.85, tarsi 0.5."

[87] The original diagnosis and description of Dicæum flaviventer, from which the above description is taken, are as follows:

"Dicæum D. rubriventri Less. similis, sed parte media pectoris abdominisque cadmiumino-flava, capite supra dorsoque virescentibus et uropygio obscure ardesiaco distinguendum.

"Long. al. 55, caud. 30, tars. 12, culm. 10.5 mm. ([male]).

"Hab. Insula Philippinarum Cebú.

"Kopf, Oberrücken und Flügeldecken grünlich schwarz mit etwas Glanz. Schwingen schwärzlichbraunn, die Secundaren mit grünlich glänzenden Rändern auf der Aussenfahne. Unterrücken und schwanzdecken, dunkel schieferfarbig. Schwanz schwarz. Kehle vorn und an den Seiten weiss, untere Kehle und Brust, sowie die Seiten des Unterkörpers hell aschgrau, in der Mitte desselben ein schöner cadmiumgelber, bis 6 mm breiter Streif (Ridgway: cadmium-yellow Pl. VI, 6), nach dem After zu in Weiss übergehend; untere Schwanzdecken, Axillaren und untere Flügeldecken weiss, die äusseren mit einem schwärzlichen Fleck in der Mitte. Hosen aussen weiss, hinten terminal schwärzlich. Füsse braun. Schnabel schwarz, kräftig."

[88] Celestino's specimens were recorded by mistake as Dicæum papuense, Phil. Jour. Sci. (1906), 1, 907.

[89] I have not seen the females of C. guimarasensis and C. flagrans.

[90] "Characters.--Most closely resembling Cyrtostomus jugularis jugularis of Luzon, but slightly larger, with the upper parts olive-green instead of brownish olive-gray; under parts nearly uniform lemon-yellow instead of canary-yellow." (Mearns.)

[91] "Characters.--Smaller than Cyrtostomus jugularis aurora, C. jugularis jugularis, or C. jugularis dinagatensis, old males differing from all three in the metallic reflections on the middle of the dark metallic plastron, which are bluish and violet instead of green-blue; under parts shading very gradually from rich orange, adjoining the dark metallic plastron, to clear yellow on the crissum and under tail-coverts; back a more golden olive-green than in the other Philippine forms; forehead, lores, and superciliary stripe solid metallic violet purple." (Mearns.)

[92] Hartert's remarks on Anthreptes malaccensis wiglesworthi are as follows: "Kopfseiten fast so roth wie bei rhodolaema, Unterseite wie bei chlorigaster (siehe oben). (Meinem zu früh verstorbenen ornithologischen Freunde Wiglesworth gewidmet, der mit A. B. Meyer zusammen in den 'Birds of Celebes' interessante Notizen über diese Gruppe gab.) Sulu Inseln. Typus Tring Museum, Sulu I. v. '83, Powell coll. Alle Stücke von den Sulu Inseln, die ich sah, sind ohne Zweifel zur gleichen Form zu rechnen."

[93] Philippine specimens of this genus may be the recently described Budytes flavus alascensis but no specimens of that race are available for comparison. Cf. Ridgway, Bds. North and Middle America (1904), 3, 8 and 10.

[94] Cf. Richmond, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. Washington (1903), 26, 504.

[95] In the Catalogue of the Birds in the British Museum this species falls under "a. With the hind claw decidedly shorter than the hallux." but in the figures of the foot in the Catalogue and in the Fauna of British India the claw is decidedly longer than the hallux, and Sharpe (p. 565) says: "Hind claw long and straight, a trifle shorter than hind toe, but sometimes longer."

[96] Coues describes this, the most important character of the family, in the following words: "But the most tangible characteristic of the family [Fringillidæ] is angulation of the commissure. The commissure runs in a straight line, or with a slight curve, to or near to the base of the bill, and is then more or less abruptly bent down at a varying angle--the cutting edge of the upper mandible forming a reëntrance, that of the lower mandible a corresponding salience. In familiar terms, we might say that the corners of the mouth are drawn down--that the finches, though very merry little birds, are literally 'down in the mouth.' In the great majority of cases this feature is unmistakable, and in the grosbeaks, for example, it is very strongly marked indeed; but in some of the smaller-billed forms, and especially those with slender bills, it is hardly perceptible."

[97] This species is called "tree sparrow" by some authors.

[98] Chlorura Reichenbach, 1863, is preoccupied by Chlorura Sclater, 1862.

[99] Grant's diagnosis of Chlorura brunneiventris follows: "C. similis C. borneensi, Sharpe, sed abdomine quoque rufescente, pectore concolore; pectoris lateribus caeruleo lavatis; fronte caerulea laetiore et minus extensa. Long. tot. 4.2 poll., alae 2.3."

[100] "Characters.--Slightly larger than Dicrurus balicassius from Luzon Island; also differing in having the metallic reflections of the upper parts and breast greenish blue instead of bluish green.

"Measurements of type (adult male).--Wing, 148; tail, 130; culmen, 27; tarsus, 25." (Mearns.)

[101] Wrongly given as "Mindanao" in McGregor and Worcester's Hand-List, p. 107.

[102] This recently published description is based upon one specimen and the species is compared with neither Chibia borneensis nor C. pectoralis. Mearns's description follows:

"Characters.--Very similar to Chibia palawanensis, differing only in its somewhat larger size, shallower forking of the tail, the narrower and very much smaller spangles on the breast, and in the absence of metallic green on the upper tail-coverts.

"Measurements of skin (type and only specimen).--Length, 260; wing, 136; tail, 126; emargination of tail, 16; culmen (chord), 28.5; tarsus, 24.5." (Mearns.)

[103] The description of Chibia borneensis follows: "C. similis C. pectorali ex insulis Sulaensibus, sed plumis lanceolatis colli lateralis metallice chalybeo-viridibus nec purpurascentibus, et maculis jugularibus et praepectoralibus valde minoribus et conspicue metallicis chalybeo-viridibus distinguenda. Long. tot. 10, culm. 1.3, alae 5.9, caudae, 4.5, tarsi 0.85." (Sharpe.)

[104] The name myna is restricted by Jerdon, and other writers on Indian ornithology, to the species of Acridotheres and Temenuchus, while the species of Eulabes are called hill mynas. Mina, maina, and minor are merely variants of myna.

[105] The status of "Sarcops lowii" is doubtful; the description follows: "This species appears to be distinguished from the ordinary Sarcops calvus by its gray mantle, which resembles the rest of the back, and by the color of the under surface, which is silvery gray with a narrow blackish line down the center of the body, whereas in S. calvus the mantle is black, and the under surface also, only the flanks being gray." (Sharpe.)

[106] See note under crested myna.

[107] The Philippine crow is given in Table II of Everett's paper on the birds of Palawan, Proc. Zool. Soc. (1889), 225, and this record is repeated in McGregor and Worcester's Hand-List (1906), 110, but there appears to be no other evidence of the occurrence of the Philippine crow in Palawan.

End of Project Gutenberg's A Manual of Philippine Birds, by Richard McGregor