Part 180

Two eggs collected by Steere in Marinduque, May 8, 1888, are described as follows:

"Shape ovate. Ground-color pale creamy white, with a rather wide zone round the middle composed of small blotches and spots of pale yellowish brown or lavender-gray; a few scattered spots of the same colors over the rest of the shell. Measurements 18 mm. by 14 mm." (Grant and Whitehead.)

A set of three eggs, also collected in Marinduque by Steere, are said to be similar to the above but with the markings rather smaller. The measurements are 19 by 15.

"The two nests are of the usual cup-shaped type, constructed of tightly woven fiber and wide dead grass bound together with spiders' webs, and neatly lined with fine grasses and black fiber." (Grant and Whitehead.)

Genus XEOCEPHUS Bonaparte, 1854.

Eye surrounded by a wide fleshy wattle; depth of bill at nostril about two-thirds of its width; rictal bristles strong; first primary more than one-half of second and less than one-half of third; fourth, fifth, and sixth subequal; tarsus equal to exposed culmen; rectrices strongly graduated; color nearly uniform, bright reddish brown, or blue.

Species.

a1. Plumage bright chestnut-rufous.

b1. Central rectrices greatly lengthened (northern islands). ... rufus (p. 461) b2. Central rectrices never greatly lengthened (southern islands). ... cinnamomeus (p. 463)

a2. Plumage nearly uniform blue. ... cyanescens (p. 463)

424. XEOCEPHUS RUFUS (Gray).

LONG-TAILED RUFOUS FLYCATCHER.

Tchitrea rufa Gray, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. (1843), 11, 371. Zeocephus rufus Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1879), 4, 343; Hand-List (1901), 3, 262; Grant, Ibis (1896), 112; Grant and Whitehead, Ibis (1898), 235, pl. 5, fig. 4 (egg); Whitehead, Ibis (1899), 103 (habits); Oates and Reid, Cat. Birds' Eggs (1903), 3, 279; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 74.

Mus-ca-dór ca-né-lo, Manila.

Cebu (Bourns & Worcester, McGregor); Lubang (McGregor); Luzon (Cuming, Heriot, Möllendorff, Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester, Whitehead, McGregor); Marinduque (Steere Exp.); Mindoro (Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester, McGregor); Negros (Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester); Panay (Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester); Romblon (Bourns & Worcester, McGregor); Samar (Whitehead); Sibuyan (Bourns & Worcester, McGregor); Tablas (Bourns & Worcester, Celestino).

Adult male.--Entire plumage rich chestnut-rufous with inner webs of primaries and secondaries seal-brown near their tips. Iris, eyelids, and bill blue; bill edged and tipped with black; legs and nails lighter blue. Wing, 87; tail, excepting central rectrices, 85; central rectrices, 100 to 190; culmen from base, 20; bill from nostril, 13; tarsus, 16.

Adult female and immature.--Lighter in color and with lower breast, abdomen, and tail-coverts whitish; central rectrices not greatly lengthened.

"In Jour. für Orn. (1891), 294, Hartert very properly calls attention to the fact that confusion evidently exists as to the distribution of the two rufous species of Zeocephus, and he even seems to question the distinctness of the two species. We have some suggestions to offer, after looking over our series of thirty-one specimens from Luzon, Mindoro, Panay, Negros, Cebu, Basilan, Sulu, and Tawi Tawi. First, the young immature birds of Z. rufus have the white belly and general coloring of Z. cinnamomeus. They are not to be distinguished from birds of the latter species. Second, out of fifteen specimens from the south, seven do not show a trace of white on the belly, and are of a uniform deep rufous color. Third, we have a male bird in breeding plumage from Cebu which is indistinguishable, so far as shade of rufous is concerned, from Basilan birds. The confusion between the two species is thus readily understood. Are they then distinct? We think that they are for the following reasons: The average fully adult bird from the northern islands is very much darker in color than the darkest of the southern birds. The northern birds have the tail much more strongly graduated than that of the birds from the south. None of our specimens from the south show any special elongation of the central tail-feathers. In one specimen from Tablas and another from Sibuyan the central tail-feathers exceed the rest by fully 75 millimeters. Other birds collected at the same time and place do not show nearly so strong a development of these feathers, but the fact remains that nothing even approaching it is shown by our specimens from the south.

"The dark tips of the tail-feathers described by Dr. Sharpe as characteristic of Z. cinnamomeus are simply a sign of immaturity, as is the white of the belly.

"Zeocephus rufus, then, inhabits the northern and central Philippines, and is to be distinguished from Z. cinnamomeus by its darker color when fully adult, and by its more strongly graduated tail, which has the central feathers at least 75 millimeters longer than the others when the birds are in perfect plumage.

"Four males from Cebu average: Length, 223; wing, 93; tail, 116; culmen, 23; tarsus, 21; middle toe with claw, 18. Five females, length, 201; wing, 86; tail, 106; culmen, 23; tarsus, 21; middle toe with claw, 18. A male from Sibuyan with elongated tail-feathers measures 283 in length; wing, 94; tail, 162; culmen, 24; tarsus, 17; middle toe with claw, 19. Iris almost black; legs and feet blue; nails black, sometimes showing a little blue; bill and eye-wattles bright blue. Breeding in Cebu in June." (Bourns and Worcester MS.)

A set of three eggs was collected by Whitehead at Cape Engaño, Luzon, on April 24, 1895. The eggs and nest are described as follows:

"Shape ovate. Ground-color pure white, with a decided zone of small blotches and spots round the pole of the larger end; upper-markings brown-lake, and under-markings lilac. Two of the eggs have small dots of the darker color thinly scattered over the whole shell, while in the third these markings are almost entirely confined to the zone. Measurements 22 mm. by 16 mm.

"Nest much like that built by Hypothymis azurea, and placed in similar positions, but within the brown lining is a second lining of fine black fiber taken from the base of the palm-leaves." (Grant and Whitehead.)

425. XEOCEPHUS CINNAMOMEUS Sharpe.

SHORT-TAILED RUFOUS FLYCATCHER.

Zeocephus cinnamomeus Sharpe, Trans. Linn. Soc. 2d. ser. Zool. (1877), 1, 329; Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1879), 4, 343; Hand-List (1901), 3, 262; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 74.

Basilan (Steere, Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester, McGregor); Bongao (Everett); Mindanao (Koch & Schadenberg, Goodfellow, Celestino); Sulu (Platen, Bourns & Worcester); Tawi Tawi (Bourns & Worcester).