Part 177

Young in first plumage.--Above smoky gray; below white; a dusky band across fore breast; wings and tail blackish brown; primaries and secondaries edged with verditer; outer webs of rectrices washed with verditer.

"Rare in Samar. Always found in company with other flycatchers. Four males average: Length, 137; wing, 63; tail, 62; culmen, 13; tarsus, 14; middle toe with claw, 13. A female, length, 130; wing, 59; tail, 55; culmen, 13; tarsus, 14; middle toe with claw, 13. Iris nearly black; legs and feet slaty blue; nails usually black, in one case bluish slate; bill blue, with black tip; eye-wattles blue. Breeding in August." (Bourns and Worcester MS.)

The specimens from Camiguin Island, north of Luzon, on which was based Camiguinia personata, are slightly larger than specimens from Mindanao and the latter are probably Cyanomyias helenæ of Steere. There appears to be no ground for retaining C. personata.

Genus CYANOMYIAS Sharpe, 1879.

Bill slightly compressed near tip, depth at nostril two-thirds of width, outline sightly concave toward the tip; rictal bristles conspicuous, the longest more than bill from nostril; wing and tail about equal, wing formula as in Hypothymis; tarsus one and one-half times the bill from nostril; feathers of head stiffish, decomposed basally and conspicuously antrorse on lores; feathers of occipital crest long and narrow.

415. CYANOMYIAS COELESTIS (Tweeddale).

CELESTIAL BLUE FLYCATCHER.

Hypothymis coelestis Tweeddale, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. (1877), IV, 20, 536; Proc. Zool. Soc. (1878), 109, pl. 7, fig. 1 ([female]). Cyanomyias coelestis Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1879), 4, 278; Hand-List (1901), 3, 249; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 73.

Basilan (Steere Exp., McGregor); Dinagat (Everett); Luzon (McGregor); Mindanao (Bourns & Worcester, Celestino); Sibuyan (Bourns & Worcester).

Male.--General color blue; forehead, lores, and entire head and face clear cerulean blue contrasting strongly with the light cobalt-blue of back, wings, and tail; chin, throat, and fore breast deep azure-blue, becoming gradually fainter and more greenish on lower breast; abdomen, flanks, and under tail-coverts white, washed more or less with turquoise-blue; thighs blue; rectrices black below and their inner webs black above; primaries and secondaries black, edged with blue. Iris white; eyelids light greenish yellow; bill dark blue like throat with black tip and edges; legs very dark blue; nails black. Length of a male from Basilan, 165; wing, 75; tail, 76; culmen from base, 14; bill from nostril, 9; tarsus, 16; crest, 36.

Female.--Differs from the male in having a much shorter crest and less intense colors; top of head darker, of nearly the same shade as back and wings; throat and breast cobalt instead of azure. Wing, 73; tail, 70; bill from nostril, 15; tarsus, 16; crest, 17.

This magnificent flycatcher is very rare; it is found in small numbers, feeding and moving about in the tops of forest trees, associated with species of such genera as Hypothymis, Rhipidura, and Pardaliparus.

"A very rare bird. Found only by accident, and always with other flycatchers. Four males average: Length, 159; wing, 72; tail, 74; culmen, 16; tarsus, 16; middle toe with claw, 15. Two females, length, 154; wing, 73; tail, 74; culmen, 16; tarsus, 17; middle toe with claw, 16. Iris dark brown; legs and feet slaty blue, nails black; bill black at tip and along gape, elsewhere blue; eye-wattles greenish yellow." (Bourns and Worcester MS.)

Genus RHIPIDURA Vigors and Horsfield, 1826.

Rictal bristles long and conspicuous, equal to culmen from base or longer; bill wide, depressed for most of its length, slightly compressed near tip; wing shorter than tail; first primary more than one-half of second and less than one-half of third; fourth, fifth, and sixth nearly equal, fifth longest; tail-feathers graduated, the difference between outermost and middle rectrices equal to or greater than culmen; plumage soft, that of head neither scale-like nor pile-like; colors various.

I can see no good reason why Hypothymis superciliaris Sharpe and H. samarensis Steere should not be placed in the genus Rhipidura; their long graduated tail-feathers, long stiff oral bristles, and lax plumage, as well as the similarity in the coloration of the sexes, certainly unite them with the members of Rhipidura.

Species.

a1. Head, throat, and fore-breast blue or blue-gray.

b1. Entire upper parts blue.

c1. Blue of upper parts lighter, especially on crown; silvery cobalt of forehead more conspicuous. ... superciliaris (p. 456) c2. Blue of upper parts darker, crown nearly black; less silvery cobalt on forehead. ... samarensis (p. 457)

b2. Back, wings, and tail largely chestnut or cinnamon.

c1. Abdomen and flanks white. ... albiventris (p. 457) c2. Abdomen and flanks brown.

d1. Smaller; crown lighter; abdomen and flanks cinnamon-brown. ... cyaniceps (p. 458) d2. Larger; crown darker; abdomen and flanks light chestnut-brown. ... sauli (p. 458)

a2. Top and sides of head black.

b1. Chin and throat black.

c1. Fore breast cinnamon-brown like the rest of breast and abdomen. ... nigrocinnamomea (p. 459) c2. Fore breast white. ... hutchinsoni (p. 460)

b2. Chin and throat white with a black pectoral band. ... nigritorquis (p. 460)

416. RHIPIDURA SUPERCILIARIS (Sharpe).