454 MANUAL OF PHILIPPINE BIRDS. 



414. CAMIGUINIA HELEN/E (Steere). 



HELEN'S MASKED FLYCATCHER. 



Vyanomyas helence Steere, List Birds uiid Mams. Steere Exped. (1890), 16. 

 Cyanomyias helence Wiiiteheaii, Ibis (1899), lOG; Siiarpe. Hand-List 



(1901), 3, 249; ]\rcGREGOR and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 73. 

 Camiguinia personata McGregor, Phil. Jonr. Sci. (1907), 2, sec. A, 346. 



Camiguin N. {McGregor) ; Mindanao [Celestino) ; Samar (Steere Exp., Bourns: 

 d Worcester, Whitehead. 



Adult male. — General color light azure-blue; rump and upper tail- 

 coverts lighter; breast darker: frontal line, chin, lores, and a narrow 

 circumocular line velvety black, forming a mask which is narrowly- 

 bordered behind with bright silvery cobalt-blue, widest behind forehead 

 and chin; middle of lower breast, abdomen, under tail-coverts, wing- 

 lining, and axillars white; wings and tail black, the exposed edges of 

 feathers dark azure-blue, except first and second primaries; two outer- 

 most pairs of rectrices narrowly tipped with white in old birds only. 

 Iris brown; the narrow eyelids light blue; bill blue, except edges and 

 tip which are black; legs and feet blue; nails blackish. Length, 154; 

 wing, 67.5; tail, 67; culmen from base, 15; bill from nostril, 9; tar- 

 sus, 16. In the slightly immature, but fully feathered, male the crest is 

 less developed, the feathers of the crown are less scale-like, and the 

 upper parts are darker bhie than in the fully adult male. 



Adult female. — General color dull verditer-blue ; head, necls, and sides 

 of head brighter; forehead dull cobalt; chin whitish, bordered by dull 

 cobalt; throat, breast, and sides grayish, washed with dull azure-blue, 

 shafts white; abdomen, flanks, under tail-coverts, and middle of lower 

 breast white; wings and tail blackish brown, edged with dull verditer- 

 blue. Wing, 64 ; tail, 64 ; culmen ' from base, 14 ; bill from nostril, 9 ; 

 tarsus, 17. 



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. 



"Eare in Samar. Always found in company with other flycatchers. 

 Four males average: Length, 137; wing, 63; tail, 62; culmen, 13; tar- 

 sus, 14; middle toe with claw, 13. A female, length, 130; wiqg, 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 helence of Steere. 

 There appears to be no ground for retaining C. personata. 



