Part 176

"Young male.--Similar to old female, but having the back greenish blue, only the head and neck ashy brown, even the crown being slightly shaded with blue; upper tail-coverts with white edgings; wings and tail as in adult, the outer greater coverts tipped with buff; below as in female, but having the throat ochraceous, the breast washed with ocher, as also the sides of the body." (Sharpe.)

The Japanese blue flycatcher is a rare winter visitant to the Philippine Islands.

Genus HYPOTHYMIS Boie, 1826.

Bill flattened and depressed for its entire length, the outline not curved inward toward the tip; depth of bill at nostril nearly two-thirds of the width; bill from nostril more than one-half the tarsus; rictal bristles conspicuous, the longest equal to bill from nostril; wings short, about equal to tail; first primary equal to one-half of third; fourth, fifth, and sixth subequal and longest; seventh greater than third; second primary shorter than the secondaries; tail slightly graduated, outermost feathers shorter than middle pair by about one-third the length of tarsus; feathers of head short and soft, occipital crest short; dominative color blue, abdomen white.

413. HYPOTHYMIS OCCIPITALIS (Vigors).

BLACK-NAPED FLYCATCHER.

Muscicapa occipitalis Vigors, Proc. Zool. Soc. (1831), 97. Hypothymis occipitalis Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1879), 4, 274; Hand-List (1901), 3, 248; Oates and Reid, Cat. Birds' Eggs (1903), 3, 273; McGregor, Bur. Govt. Labs. Manila (1905), 34, 18, pl. 13 (nest); McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 73. Hypothymis azurea Grant and Whitehead, Ibis (1898), 237 (eggs); Whitehead, Ibis (1899), 106.

Pi-pit a-zul, Manila.

Bantayan (McGregor); Banton (Celestino); Basilan (Steere, Everett, Bourns & Worcester, McGregor); Bohol (Steere Exp., McGregor); Bongao (Everett); Calamianes (Bourns & Worcester); Caluya (Porter); Cebu (Everett, Bourns & Worcester, McGregor); Guimaras (Meyer, Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester); Leyte (Steere Exp.); Lubang (McGregor); Luzon (Everett, Steere Exp., Möllendorff, Bourns & Worcester, Whitehead, McGregor); Maestre de Campo (McGregor & Worcester); Malanipa (Murray); Marinduque (Steere Exp.); Masbate (Bourns & Worcester, McGregor); Mindanao (Everett, Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester, Goodfellow, Celestino); Mindoro (Steere Exp., Schmacker, Bourns & Worcester, Everett, Whitehead, McGregor); Negros (Layard, Everett, Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester, Keay); Palawan (Whitehead, Platen, Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester, White); Panay (Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester); Romblon (Bourns & Worcester, McGregor); Samar (Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester); Sibutu (Everett); Sibuyan (Bourns & Worcester, McGregor); Siquijor (Bourns & Worcester, Celestino); Sulu (Guillemard, Bourns & Worcester); Tablas (Bourns & Worcester); Tawi Tawi (Bourns & Worcester); Ticao (McGregor); Verde (McGregor). Nicobar Islands, Malay Peninsula, Java, Borneo, Flores, Lombok, Hainan, Formosa.

Male.--General color azure-blue, brighter on head, darker on back and rump and slightly purplish on breast; a narrow line on forehead, another on chin, and a round or oval patch on back of head, velvety black; a narrow crescent of black across breast; abdomen, flanks, and under tail-coverts white; thighs washed with blue; wings and tail black, the edges of the feathers washed with dark blue. Iris dark; bill blue, edged and tipped with black; eyelids and feet blue, nails black; inside of mouth pale greenish yellow. Length, about 160; wing, 65; tail, 65; culmen from base, 13; bill from nostril, 10; tarsus, 15.

Female.--Differs from the male in having the back, rump, wings, and tail brown, in lacking the nuchal patch and breast crescent, and in having the blue of head and throat somewhat duller and the breast bluish gray. Length, about 150; wing, 67; tail, 65; bill from nostril, 9; tarsus, 15.

"We gathered a large series of specimens of this common bird with the purpose of determining whether more than one species occurred in the Philippines. It is our decided opinion, after carefully examining a large series of specimens from all parts of the Archipelago, that there is no ground whatever for attempting to separate the birds from different islands. There is a great deal of individual variation in color, but all the various phases may be found in the birds of any one locality, the coloring changing greatly with the season, as well as with age, and frequently a good deal of variation occurs even among fully adult birds shot at a given time.

"If it be granted that we are dealing with but a single species, and we fail to see how anyone can doubt it who will look over a good series of specimens, it only remains to decide what name belongs to it. Sharpe states, Catalogue of Birds (1879), 4, 276, that as the white belly is the character by which the two species are distinguished, and as this is shown clearly in Daubenton's plate of H. azurea, he has adopted that title for the Indian bird, in spite of the fact that the plate is professedly founded on the 'Goubemouches bleu des Philippines.' In other words, since the bird figured shows a white belly, Doctor Sharpe thinks it must have come from India and not from the Philippines. Now, while in some of our Philippine birds the belly is washed with blue, and in two specimens is decidedly bluish, in the majority of the specimens it is pure white. We are in no position to go into the question as to whether the Indian and Philippine birds are really distinct, not having the necessary material from India for comparison, but there is most certainly no reason for thinking that the subject of Daubenton's plate did not come from the Philippines because it has a white belly. We therefore retain his title for the Philippine bird. It is one of the commonest birds in the islands.

"Ten males average: Length, 156; wing, 69; tail, 71; culmen, 15; tarsus, 15; middle toe with claw, 14. Five females, length, 147; wing, 67; tail, 67; culmen, 14; tarsus, 15; middle toe with claw, 14. Bill blue in male, but often black in female; legs and feet bluish, nails black." (Bourns and Worcester MS.)

A nest of the black-naped flycatcher, containing three eggs, was found in Mindoro in April, it was composed of green moss and soft bits of dry bamboo leaves, and lined with fine blackish fibers. The outside was decorated with cotton-like substance from one of the fulgorid insects. The eggs were white, marked with dots of reddish brown.

A nest and two eggs found by Whitehead near Cape Engaño, Luzon, on May 24, 1895, are described as follows:

"Shape rounded ovate. Ground-color pure white, thickly speckled, especially round the larger end, with small spots and dots of brown-lake and with a few pale lilac under-markings. In general character these eggs resemble those of the tits (Paridæ). Measurements 17 mm. by 14 mm.

"Nest cup-shaped, generally placed in a forked branch among the lower growth in old forests. The structure is made of moss firmly bound together with white spider's-web and lined with fine brown fibers." (Grant and Whitehead.)

The black-naped flycatcher is one of the commonest of Philippine birds and is found wherever there are thickets or forest. It is more or less solitary in habits.

Genus CAMIGUINIA McGregor, 1907.

Bill moderately flattened as in Cyanomyias; culmen less than tarsus and equal to middle toe with claw; rictal bristles longer than bill from nostril; first primary little more than one-half of second, the latter much less than third; fifth longest and slightly longer than fourth and sixth; tail about equal to wing and slightly graduated; feathers of chin, lores, and forehead short, soft, and pile-like; feathers of crown more or less scale-like; occipital crest soft and full.

This genus is intermediate between Cyanomyias and Hypothymis; from the former it differs in lacking the greatly lengthened crest and the antrorse loral plumes, and from the latter it differs in having the feathers of crown and crest scale-like, instead of soft and velvety.

414. CAMIGUINIA HELENÆ (Steere).

HELEN'S MASKED FLYCATCHER.

Cyanomyas helenæ Steere, List Birds and Mams. Steere Exped. (1890), 16. Cyanomyias helenæ Whitehead, Ibis (1899), 106; Sharpe, Hand-List (1901), 3, 249; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 73. Camiguinia personata McGregor, Phil. Jour. Sci. (1907), 2, sec. A, 346.

Camiguin N. (McGregor); Mindanao (Celestino); Samar (Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester, Whitehead.)

Adult male.--General color light azure-blue; rump and upper tail-coverts lighter; breast darker; frontal line, chin, lores, and a narrow circumocular line velvety black, forming a mask which is narrowly bordered behind with bright silvery cobalt-blue, widest behind forehead and chin; middle of lower breast, abdomen, under tail-coverts, wing-lining, and axillars white; wings and tail black, the exposed edges of feathers dark azure-blue, except first and second primaries; two outermost pairs of rectrices narrowly tipped with white in old birds only. Iris brown; the narrow eyelids light blue; bill blue, except edges and tip which are black; legs and feet blue; nails blackish. Length, 154; wing, 67.5; tail, 67; culmen from base, 15; bill from nostril, 9; tarsus, 16. In the slightly immature, but fully feathered, male the crest is less developed, the feathers of the crown are less scale-like, and the upper parts are darker blue than in the fully adult male.

Adult female.--General color dull verditer-blue; head, neck, and sides of head brighter; forehead dull cobalt; chin whitish, bordered by dull cobalt; throat, breast, and sides grayish, washed with dull azure-blue, shafts white; abdomen, flanks, under tail-coverts, and middle of lower breast white; wings and tail blackish brown, edged with dull verditer-blue. Wing, 64; tail, 64; culmen from base, 14; bill from nostril, 9; tarsus, 17.