574 MANUAL OF PHILIPPINE BIRDS. 



555. ORTHOTOMUS MEARNSI McGregor. 



MEARNS'S TAILORBIRD. 



Orthotomus frontalis Sharpe, Trans. Linn. Soc. 2d. ser. Zool. (1877), 1, 



336 (part) ; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 88 (part). 

 Orthotomus mearnsi McGregor, PhiL Jour. Sci. (1907), 2, sec. A, 289. 



Basilan (Steere, Everett, Steere Exp., Bourns d Worcester, McGregor) . 



Adult. — Similar to Orthotomus frontalis, but the chestnut of fore- 

 head extending on crown to, or nearly to, posterior border of eye, not 

 ending abruptly; the whole crown and nape slightly suffused with 

 chestnut, the crown never clear slate-gray as in 0. fronLalis; behind eye 

 the chestnut extends over the sides of nape. The tj^pe measures : Length, 

 114; wing, 47; tail, 45; culmen from base, 18; bill from nostril, 11.5; 

 tarsus, 20. Female, wing, 47; tail, 40; bill from nostril, 11; tarsus, 20. 



556. ORTHOTOMUS CASTANEICEPS Walden. 

 CHESTNUT-HEADED TAILORBIRD. 



Orthotomus castaneiceps Walden, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. (1872), 10, 252; 

 Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1883), 7, 223; Hand-List (1903), 4, 

 192; Whitehead, Ibis (1899), 220; McGregob and Worcester, Hand- 

 List (1906), 88. 



Orthotomus panayensis Steere, List Bds. & Mams. Steere Exped. (1890), 20. 



Sa-gua-ti, Ticao; ta-gua-ti, Masbate and Bantayan. 



Bantayan (McGregor) ; Guimaras (Meyer, Steere Exp.) ; Masbate (Bourns 

 d Worcester, McGregor) ; Negros (Everett, Steere Exp., Bourns d Worcester, 

 Whitehead); Panay (Murray, Steere, Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester); Ticao 

 (McGregor). 



Adult. — Top of head from bill to neck, lores, a broad line under eye, 

 and upper part of ear-coverts chestnut; back, rump, and tail-coverts 

 slate-gray; the rump and tail-coverts green in some specimens; wing- 

 feathers and rectrices edged with bright olive-green; tail with a dusky 

 band near its tip; under parts white; throat and breast streaked with 

 slate-gray; sides and flanks more or less washed with ashy gray; thighs 

 chestnut, flanks and crissum washed with green in some specimens. 

 Length, about 150. A male from Bantayan measures : Wing, 57 ; tail, 

 55; culmen from base, 20; bill from nostril, 12; tarsus, 23. A female, 

 wing, 50; tail, 46; culmen from base, 18; tarsus, 22. 



"Steere has attempted to separate the Panay tailorbird from that of 

 Guimaras and Negros, but after a most careful examination of a large 

 series of specimens from Panay, Negros, and Masbate we are compelled 

 to say that there is not the slightest difference between the birds from 

 the three islands. Their size is the same. The wash of olive-green on 

 the back, on which Doctor Steere relied to separate the Panay birds, is 

 a variable character present in some birds, absent in others shot at the 

 same season. It occurs in birds from Negros and Masbate as well as 

 those from Panay. The presumptive evidence against finding one species 



