Part 240

a1. Wings uniform black with no white bar. ... semilarvatus (p. 608) a2. Wings black, but with a conspicuous white bar near the base of primaries and secondaries. ... tessacourbe (p. 608)

597. PENTHORNIS SEMILARVATUS (Salvadori).

WHITE-FACED BLACK TITMOUSE.

Melaniparus semilarvatus Salvadori, Atti Soc. Ital. Sc. Nat. (1865), 8, 375; Ibis (1879), 300, pl. 9. Parus semilarvatus Gadow, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1883), 8, 38; Whitehead, Ibis (1899), 224 (habits). Penthornis semilarvatus Sharpe, Hand-List (1903), 4, 333; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 94.

Luzon (Whitehead, McGregor); Negros (Steere Exp.).

Adult male.--Greater part of plumage glossy black, the following parts white: Forehead to opposite center of eye, lores, line under eye, fore part of cheeks; a concealed patch on hind neck formed by the white bases of the feathers; part of the inner webs of wing and quills, wing-lining, axillars, and outer webs of under tail-coverts white. In one specimen before me, probably immature, the tail-coverts are entirely black. Iris light brown; bill, legs, and nails black. Length, about 130; wing, 75; tail, 50; culmen from base, 12; bill from nostril, 9; tarsus, 17.

Female.--A female from Bataan Province, Luzon, has the under parts mostly seal-brown but this is probably because of immaturity. Wing, 71; tail, 59; culmen from base, 12; bill from nostril, 9; tarsus, 15.

598. PENTHORNIS TESSACOURBE (Scopoli).

WHITE-WINGED BLACK TITMOUSE.

Muscicapa tessacourbe Scopoli, Del. Flor. et Faun. Insubr. (1786), 2, 95 (based on Sonnerat's figure). Muscicapa luzoniensis Gmelin, Syst. Nat. (1788), 1, pt. 2, 942 (same basis as Scopoli's name). Micropus nehrkorni Blasius, Jour. für Orn. (1890), 147. Penthornis luzoniensis Sharpe, Hand-List (1903), 4, 333; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 94.

Mindanao (Sonnerat?, Platen).

Male.--Similar to Penthornis semilarvatus, but with a broad white band across the inner primaries and outer secondaries near their bases. "Length, 140; wing, 78.5; tail, 53; culmen, 12.5; tarsus, 15." (Blasius.)

Muscicapa tessacourbe Scopoli and M. luzoniensis Gmelin were both based upon Sonnerat's plate. The species was unrecognized until Platen collected a male in Mindanao. Blasius described this specimen under the name Micropus nehrkorni, suggesting the probability that it was the same as Muscicapa luzoniensis. Sonnerat's figure does not look much like a Penthornis.

Family SITTIDÆ.

Bill slender and pointed, about as long as head; neither notched nor toothed; culmen but very slightly curved; nostrils oval, nearly hidden by the antrorse frontal plumes; shafts of the latter hair-like and extending beyond the nostrils; rictal bristles very small; wing long, pointed and somewhat curved; first primary equal to about one-third of second; fourth and fifth nearly equal and longest; second between fifth and sixth in length; tail square, very short, scarcely more than one-half the wing; tarsus distinctly scutellate, equal to culmen from base; three anterior toes with their basal joints united; outer toe much longer than inner toe; hind toe with claw much longer than tarsus and nearly equal to middle toe with claw.

Genus CALLISITTA Bonaparte, 1850.

Upper parts of body blue, forehead black; under parts, buff or cinnamon, more or less washed with lilac.

Species.

a1. Lores entirely black; mantle uniform blue like the back. ... palawana (p. 609) a2. Lores not entirely black, the lower part white or buff; mantle somewhat lighter than the rest of the back.

b1. Breast and abdomen lighter, with little or no lilac wash.

c1. Larger; under parts much darker; breast vinaceous-cinnamon. ... oenochlamys (p. 610) c2. Smaller; under parts much lighter; breast cream-buff. ... mesoleuca (p. 610)

b2. Breast and abdomen darker, and heavily washed with lilac. ... lilacea (p. 611)

599. CALLISITTA PALAWANA (Hartert).

PALAWAN NUTHATCH.

Sitta frontalis Gadow, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1883), 8, 358 (part). Dendrophila frontalis Whitehead, Ibis (1893), 53; Sharpe, Hand-List (1903), 4, 351 (part). Sitta frontalis palawana Hartert, Bull. Brit. Orn. Club (1905), 16, 11. Callisitta frontalis McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 94.

Balabac (Steere, Everett); Palawan (Steere, Platen, Whitehead, Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester, Doherty, Celestino, White).

Adult male.--Above french-blue; lores and forehead velvet-black; a black stripe over eye, extending from the black frontal patch to nape; under parts vinaceous-buff, chin and throat considerably paler; abdomen and sides slightly washed with lilac; sides of head vinaceous-buff, slightly washed with violet; a blue line under eye; alula, primary-coverts, and primaries mostly black, some of the feathers narrowly edged with blue; secondaries and secondary-coverts mostly blue; rectrices blue, each feather with a large black mark which occupies much of the inner web and part of the outer web. A male from Puerto Princesa, Palawan, measures: Length, 127; wing, 75; tail, 42; culmen from base, 15; bill from nostril, 10; tarsus, 17.

Adult female.--Like the male, but with no black line over eye and ear-coverts, although there is an indication of the line. Wing, 72; tail, 41; culmen from base, 15.5; bill from nostril, 10; tarsus, 15.