Part 175

Young.--Lubang Island, October 25, 1902. A young bird just able to fly, resembles the adult and differs only in having the under parts very much paler yellow.

This little flycatcher closely resembles the species of Zosterops in habits, but it is less common in occurrence. At times small flocks are found feeding in clumps of bamboo or in high mangrove thickets. It has a pleasing note by means of which the members of a flock are kept together. In its active movements from tree to tree it resembles the titmice, but we have never found Gerygone in forest. The type of the species was collected in Luzon by Jagor.

"The Philippine gerygone was common about bamboo clumps in the open fields of Luzon. Five males from Luzon average as follows: Wing, 51; tail, 38; culmen, 12; tarsus, 14; middle toe with claw, 12. Five females, wing, 52; tail, 37; culmen, 12; tarsus, 16; middle toe with claw, 16. Iris, legs, feet, and nails black; bill black." (Bourns and Worcester MS.)

410. GERYGONE RHIZOPHORÆ Mearns.

MANGROVE GERYGONE.

?Gerygone flaveola Guillemard, Proc. Zool. Soc. (1885), 263. Gerygone simplex Worcester and Bourns, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. (1898), 20, 563 (part). Gerygone rhizophoræ Mearns, Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash. (1905), 18, 7; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 72.

Bongao (Everett); Mindanao (Mearns); Sulu (Guillemard, Bourns and Worcester).

"Adult male and female (seven specimens).--Upper parts, including entire top and sides of head, ashy brown tinged with olive; upper tail-coverts browner; sides of neck yellowish olive; tail-feathers drab, subterminally and broadly banded with blackish, tipped with drab-gray, and with a white spot near the end of the inner web of all [each of] the tail-feathers except the innermost pair; wing-coverts like the back; quills darker brown and narrowly edged with olive; whole under parts straw-yellow except the crissum which is almost white; lining and edge of wing yellowish white; thighs mixed straw-color and olive-brown; inner edge of quills whitish. Measurements of male: Wing, 50; tail, 39; culmen, 10.5; tarsus, 16." (Mearns.)

A female from Zamboanga is the only example of this species examined by me. In this specimen the crown is slightly darker than in specimens of G. simplex from Mindoro, Luzon, and Lubang with which I have compared it. Unfortunately Mearns does not compare his species with G. simplex which is probably its nearest relative. Guillemard records a gerygone from Sulu as G. flaveola, and his specimens were, perhaps, the same as G. rhizophoræ.

Genus ZANTHOPYGIA Blyth, 1847.

Bill at nostril slightly broader than deep, slightly compressed toward the tip; rictal bristles moderate, extending half the length of bill; tarsus twice the length of bill from nostril; wings moderate in length, when folded extending nearly to tip of tail; first primary much less than one-half the length of second, the latter less than third and fourth which are subequal and longest; tail square and equal to two-thirds of wing. Sexes very different in colors, the colors of the male are yellow, black, and white.

411. ZANTHOPYGIA NARCISSINA (Temminck).

NARCISSUS FLYCATCHER.

Muscicapa narcissina Temminck, Pl. Col. (1835), 3, pl. 577, fig. 1. Xanthopygia narcissina Sharpe, Trans. Linn. Soc. 2d. ser. Zool. (1877), 1, 327; Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1879), 4, 249; Hand-List (1901), 3, 238; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 73.

Calayan (McGregor); Mindanao (Steere). Japan, China; in winter to northern Borneo.

Male (Japan).--Above, including wings and tail, black; a line from bill over eye to nape bright yellow; back and rump darker yellow; upper tail-coverts black; some of the inner greater wing-coverts white, forming a large patch; chin, throat, and breast bright orange-yellow, becoming paler on lower breast and flanks, and gradually disappearing, leaving the crissum pure white; sides of breast, edge of wing, and thighs black; under wing-coverts and axillars white with slate-gray bases. Wing, 78; tail, 53; culmen from base, 13; bill from nostril, 7; tarsus, 15.

Female (Calayan Island).--Above olive-brown, more greenish on rump; upper tail-coverts and tail dull rufescent brown; wings brown, the primaries narrowly, the secondaries and coverts more widely, edged with dirty white or pale rufous-brown; lores, a line over eye, and eye-circle pale yellowish white; lower parts whitish, washed, more or less, with pale yellow which is brighter on throat; breast more or less mottled with dusky brown. Upper mandible black; lower mandible horn-blue; iris dark reddish brown; legs pale blue; nails gray. Length, 127; wing, 73; tail, 47; culmen from base, 13; bill from nostril, 7; tarsus, 16.

"The single male specimen obtained by Steere at Dumalon, Mindanao, in 1874, is still preserved in the Museum of the University of Michigan. No others seem to have been obtained since." (Bourns and Worcester MS.)

In Calayan on October 30, 1903, McGregor and Celestino took a female flycatcher which is undoubtedly a specimen of this migratory species, but it was not recorded in the report on the Calayan collection. In the field the female might be mistaken for the willow warbler or for one of the little plain-colored flycatchers, but the male would scarcely be overlooked if it were at all abundant. The species must, therefore, be considered a rare winter visitant to the Philippines.

Genus CYANOPTILA Blyth, 1847.

The genus Cyanoptila is not easily distinguished from Zanthopygia. In the former genus the colors of the male are blue, black, and white; the wing formula is the same as that of Zanthopygia; tail equal to nearly three-fourths of wing; tarsus one and one-half times the length of bill from nostril.

412. CYANOPTILA BELLA (Hay).

JAPANESE BLUE FLYCATCHER.

Muscicapa bella Hay, Madr. Journ. (1845), pt. 2, 158. Xanthopygia cyanomelæna Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1879), 4, 251. Cyanoptila bella Stejneger, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. Wash. (1892), 15, 328; Sharpe, Hand-List (1901), 3, 238; Oates and Reid, Cat. Birds' Eggs (1903), 3, 269; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 73. Cyanoptila cyanomelæna Everett, Ibis (1895), 24.

Balabac (Everett); Palawan? Japan, China, Indo-Chinese countries, northwestern Borneo.

"Adult male.--General color above blue, the greater coverts uniform with the back, the lesser and median coverts brighter and more cobalt-blue, forming a shoulder patch; head still brighter and more lazuline blue, richest on the forehead; a narrow frontal line, lores, eyelid, sides of face, and entire throat and chest black; rest of under surface of body pure white, the flanks ashy; thighs black; under wing-coverts dusky brown, broadly edged with blue; the edge of the wing bright blue; primary-coverts and quills dusky brown, externally greenish blue; middle tail-feathers dark blue, the remainder blue on the outer web, black on the inner, with conspicuous white bases to the feathers. 'Bill black; legs brown; iris black.' (David.) Length, 140; culmen, 14; wing, 86; tail, 61; tarsus, 15.

"Observation.--A male bird from Japan, in the Leiden Museum, marked Cyanoptila cyanothorax, is a little different from the full-plumaged male, being of a greener cobalt above, and has the throat washed with greenish blue. The blue color on the head is different being brighter cobalt. Specimens from Borneo do not differ from the Japanese bird described in any important particulars; one has a gloss of blue on the throat and chest, another is more greenish blue above, while a Tingchow male has the back greenish blue, with distinct black shaft-streaks.

"Adult female.--Different from the male. Ashy brown, above, washed with pale verditer-blue on the scapulars, lower back, and upper tail-coverts; least wing-coverts bright blue as in adult male, the rest and the quills externally verditer-blue, the outermost of the greater series dull brown, edged with ashy brown and narrowly tipped with whitish; tail as in male, but rather more greenish blue; lores and anterior part of cheeks rufescent buff; ear-coverts ashy brown, with whitish shaft-lines; throat, abdomen, and under tail-coverts white; fore-neck, chest, and sides of body ashy brown; under wing-coverts and axillars ashy brown, the edge of the wing blue. 'Bill blackish brown, legs grayish brown, iris dark brown.' (Swinhoe.) Wing, 89; tail, 61; tarsus, 15.