Part 256

"Adult male.--Entire upper surface deep black, with faint metallic blue gloss; entire under surface, including under wing-coverts, axillars, and inner webs of quills, white; bases of feathers of breast, flanks, and abdomen slaty black. Bill, legs, and feet black; iris red. Length, 82.5; wing, 50; tail, 24; culmen, 10.6; tarsus, 14. Found in the hills of Ayala, near Zamboanga." (Bourns and Worcester.)

650. PRIONOCHILUS INEXPECTATUS Hartert.

HARTERT'S FLOWERPECKER.

Prionochilus inexpectatus Hartert, Novit. Zool. (1895), 2, 64 and 486; Grant, Ibis (1896), 533; (1897), 240; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 97. Prionochilus bicolor Whitehead, Ibis (1899), 235.

Bohol (McGregor); Leyte (Whitehead); Luzon (Everett, Whitehead, McGregor); Mindoro (Bourns & Worcester, Everett, McGregor); Negros (Whitehead); Samar (Whitehead).

Male.--Above glossy blue-black; breast, sides, and flanks cinereous; chin, throat, median line of breast and abdomen, crissum, wing-lining, axillars, and inner webs of quills white. Bill, legs, and nails black. A male from Mindoro measures: Length, 90; wing, 49; tail, 23; culmen from base, 9; bill from nostril, 6; greatest width of bill, 6; tarsus, 10.

Female.--Above brown, washed with olive-green, brightest on rump, tail-coverts, and outer webs of secondaries; below similar to the male, but with a faint olivaceous wash. Wing, 51; tail, 25; culmen from base, 9; bill from nostril, 5.5; tarsus, 13.

"This recently-described species has now been met with in Samar and Leyte. It seems more than probable that it is not really distinct from P. bicolor Bourns and Worcester; but having no typical specimens of the latter form from Mindanao, I can not be certain." (Grant.)

Genus PIPRISOMA Blyth, 1844.

Bill very short and stout, its greatest width considerably more than bill from nostril; gonys strongly convex; wing long and pointed; first (outermost) primary wanting; second, third, and fourth primaries subequal and longest; tail extending beyond the end of middle toe. Upper parts light brown; breast and abdomen white, streaked with brown.

651. PIPRISOMA ÆRUGINOSUM (Bourns and Worcester).

RUSTY FLOWERPECKER.

Prionochilus æruginosus Bourns and Worcester, Minnesota Acad. Nat. Sci. Occ. Papers (1894), 1, 20. Piprisoma æruginosum Grant, Ibis (1895), 454; Whitehead, Ibis (1899), 235; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 98.

Cebu (Bourns & Worcester); Lubang (McGregor); Luzon (Whitehead, McGregor); Mindanao (Bourns & Worcester); Mindoro (Everett); Romblon (McGregor); Sibuyan (McGregor).

Adult (sexes alike).--Above dark hair-brown, faintly washed with olive; rump and tail-coverts olivaceous; wing-feathers and rectrices blackish brown, edged with olivaceous; two outer pairs of rectrices tipped with white on inner webs; lores whitish; white malar line separated from throat by a hair-brown line; under parts white; breast, sides of throat and of abdomen, and flanks boldly streaked with hair-brown; under tail-coverts white with median, basal, brown markings. A male from Luzon measures: Wing, 66; tail, 37; culmen from base, 9; bill from nostril, 6; greatest width of bill, 6; tarsus, 14. A female from Luzon, wing, 60; tail, 33; culmen from base, 10; bill from nostril, 6; tarsus, 13.

Young.--Similar to the adult but the upper parts darker and clearer brown; stripes on under parts indefinite and almost obsolete; the whole plumage is gray rather than brown.

"Found in the forest only. Iris brick-red; legs, feet, and nails nearly black; upper mandible brown, lower gray." (Bourns and Worcester MS.)

Family NECTARINIIDÆ.

Bill slender, usually strongly decurved and tapering to the sharply pointed tip; bill as long as head or much longer, without notch or hook, but the cutting edges minutely serrated for their distal thirds; rictal bristles inconspicuous or lacking; each nostril opening covered by a large opercle; first primary less than one-half the second, the latter decidedly shorter than third which nearly equals the fourth and fifth; tail square, rounded, or strongly graduated.

Subfamilies.

a1. Bill and head about equal in length; sexes different in colors; plumage of male more or less metallic ... Nectariniinæ (p. 642) a2. Bill at least twice as long as the head; sexes alike in colors and without metallic plumage ... Arachnotherinæ (p. 662)

Subfamily NECTARINIINÆ.

Genera.

a1. Nasal opercles covered with short feathers; rectrices long and graduated. ... Chalcostetha (p. 642) a2. Nasal opercles naked; or, if feathered, the tail moderate in length and nearly square.

b1. Rump bright yellow, or else the throat greenish or pale yellow.

c1. Tail of males usually long and strongly graduate; central rectrices often slender and somewhat pointed and always extending beyond the feet. ... Æthopyga (p. 643) c2. Tail short and nearly square, never extending beyond the toes. ... Eudrepanis (p. 649)

b2. Rump dull green, or some metallic color nearly uniform with the back; tail square, none of the rectrices narrow.

c1. Much smaller; wing about 60 mm.; bill more slender and more strongly curved. ... Cinnyris (p. 651) c2. Much larger; wing about 70 mm.; bill stouter and but slightly curved. ... Anthreptes (p. 658)