Part 283

"Five males from Sulu average: Length, 284; wing, 150; tail, 132; culmen, 35; tarsus, 24; middle toe with claw, 26. Eight females, length, 273; wing, 149; tail, 123; culmen, 32.5; tarsus, 23; middle toe with claw, 24. Iris chocolate-brown to dark red; bill, legs, feet, and nails black. Food insects." (Bourns and Worcester MS.)

724. CHIBIA MENAGEI Bourns and Worcester.

MENAGE'S DRONGO.

Chibia menagei Bourns and Worcester, Minnesota Acad. Nat. Sci. Occ. Papers (1894), 1, 15; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 107; McGregor, Phil. Jour. Sci. (1906), 1, 775, pl. 4.

Tablas (Bourns and Worcester, Celestino).

Adult.--Very similar in colors to C. palawanensis, but distinguished from that and all other Philippine species of the genus by the extremely long and very deeply forked tail. A male in worn plumage measures: Length, 355; wing, 141; tail (chord of longest feather), 187; bill from nostril, 22.5; depth of bill at nostril, 11; tarsus, 25; difference in length between the middle and outermost rectrices, 73; distance between tips of outermost rectrices, 120.

"Average measurements of nine males: Length, 336; culmen, 34.7; wing, 137; tail, 175; tarsus, 25. Of seven females: Length, 327; culmen, 34.7; wing, 136; tail, 168; tarsus, 26. This curious species is by far the largest representative of its genus yet discovered in the Philippine Islands, and differs strikingly from both the other known species, one of which is confined to Palawan and the Calamianes Islands, while the other occurs in the Sulu Group and in Cagayan Sulu. C. menagei seems to be strictly confined to the Island of Tablas where it is not rare in the deep woods." (Bourns and Worcester.)

"Iris very dark brown; bill, legs, feet and nails black. Food insects." (Bourns and Worcester MS.)

Genus BHUCHANGA Hodgson, 1836.

Tail deeply forked and slightly shorter than wing; rectrices much narrower than in either Dicrurus or Chibia, the outermost pair slightly upturned at tips. Prevailing colors of plumage blue-gray and cinereous.

725. BHUCHANGA PALAWANENSIS Whitehead.

PALAWAN GRAY DRONGO.

Buchanga leucophæa Sharpe, Ibis (1888), 199. Buchanga palawanensis Whitehead, Ibis (1893), 47; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 108. Dicrurus leucophæus var. whiteheadi Durbois, Syn. Av. (1901), fasc. 8, 530, no. 1772.

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

Adult.-Upper parts blue-gray with a slight gloss on head and back; forehead and lores black; cheeks and ear-coverts blackish; chin and throat cinereous becoming somewhat bluer on the breast and abdomen; under tail-coverts tipped with white; wings and tail blackish brown, but the exposed edges of most of the feathers cinereous; axillars and wing-lining blue-gray. A male from Palawan measures: Length, 354; wing, 124; tail, 120; depth of fork, 26; bill from nostril, 17; tarsus, 17. A female, wing, 125; tail, 123; bill from nostril, 17; tarsus, 15.

"We adopt Whitehead's title for this bird with some hesitation. He states that it differs from B. leucophæa in its smaller size, darker color, and in having a jet-black patch of feathers over the nostrils. He adds that the eye in B. leucophæa is brick-red, and in B. palawanensis dark gray. As regards the latter point Whitehead is certainly in error. On examining the labels of the twenty specimens collected by us in Palawan and the Calamianes Islands we find that the iris was red or brick-red in nineteen cases and reddish brown in the twentieth. The difference in color could be verified only by actual comparison for which we have not the necessary material. We add full measurements, hoping that they may be of use to some one in settling the question of the relative size of the two alleged species. Four males average: Length, 267; wing, 129; tail, 127; culmen, 26; tarsus, 17; middle toe with claw, 18.5. Eight females, length, 251; wing, 125; tail, 126; culmen, 25; tarsus, 17.5; middle toe with claw, 19. Iris brick-red; bill, legs, feet, and nails black." (Bourns and Worcester MS.)

Family STURNIDÆ.

Bill stout and pointed; culmen curved or nearly straight; rictal bristles minute when present; nostrils exposed, or else concealed by antrorse frontal plumes; wing either moderate or long, primaries much longer than secondaries; first primary shorter than primary-coverts; second primary nearly, or quite, as long as the third; tail square, or else the rectrices graduated; tarsus stout, distinctly scutellate in front and bilaminate behind.

Subfamily STURNINÆ.

The arrangement of the genera here placed in the subfamily Sturninæ is far from satisfactory. Oates, Fauna of British India, Birds (1889), 1, 509, has established the family Eulabetidæ for the reception of two of these genera, Eulabes and Calornis (=Lamprocorax), and at the same time says: "Probably Eulabes should not be associated with Calornis, but rather with the subfamily Sibiinæ of the Crateropodidæ." It is true that Eulabes and Calornis, as well as Sarcops and Goodfellowia, present some well-marked differences from typical starlings, such as the members of Sturnia, and some rearrangement of these genera may become necessary.

Genera.

a1. Circumocular region fully feathered; no bare space nor fleshy wattle anywhere on the head.

b1. Frontal feathers short; nostrils exposed.

c1. Plumage largely white and gray; frontal feathers not soft and pile-like.

d1. Bill shorter and stouter; wing, 105 mm. or less. ... Sturnia (p. 710) d2. Bill longer and more slender; wing, 115 mm. or more. ... Spodiopsar (p. 713)

c2. Plumage entirely glossy greenish black; frontal plumes soft and pile-like. ... Lamprocorax (p. 715)

b2. Frontal feathers long, erect or antrorse, forming a compressed fan-shaped covering to base of bill; nostrils entirely concealed. ... Ætheopsar (p. 717)

a2. Circumocular region naked; or else with large fleshy wattles on nape and bare spaces on sides of face.