644 MANUAL OF PHILIPPINE BIRDS. 
653. AAETHOPYGA MAGNIFICA Sharpe. 
MAGNIFICENT SUNBIRD. 
Athopyga magnifica SHARPE, Phare (1876), 14, 297; Trans. Linn. Soe. 2d. 
ser. Zool. (1877), 1, 342; Surrxtey, Monogr. Nectarin. pt. 3 (1877), 51, 
pl. 17; Gapow, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1884), 9, 24; Grant and 
WHITEHEAD, Ibis (1898), 241, pl. 5, figs. 5 & 6 (eggs) ; WuITEHEAn, Ibis 
(1899), 229 (nest) ; McGrrcor and WorcgEsTER, Hand-List (1906), 98. 
Cebu (Everett, Bourns & Worcester, McGregor); Negros (Steere, Everett, 
Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester, Whitehead, Celestino) ; Panay (Bourns & Wor- 
cester) ; Sibuyan (Bourns & Worcester, McGregor); Tablas (Bourns & Worcester, 
Celestino). 
Male.—Forehead and malar stripe metallic, dark royal purple; re- 
mainder of head, entire neck, and mantle bright poppy-red ; chin, throat, 
and breast scarlet-vermilion, the basal and central parts of the feathers 
pale yellow; back and rump black with a median more or less concealed 
patch of gamboge-yellow; tail and coverts metallic royal purple; wings, 
lower breast, abdomen, and under tail-coverts dead black; axillars and 
wing-lining black; lesser and median wing-coverts red, and some of the 
greater coverts narrowly edged with red. A male from Cebu measures: 
Wing, 59; tail, 49; culmen from base, 24; bill from nostril, 19; tarsus, 
16. Upper mandible brown, lower mandible reddish flesh; legs and 
nails dark brown. 
Female.—Dull green with a slight reddish wash across the back ; wing- 
feathers and rectrices blackish brown, the latter edged with dark crimson ; 
wing-feathers and rump more faintly washed with crimson. A female 
from Cebu, wing, 56; tail, 45; culmen from base, 22; bill from nostril, 
18; tarsus, 15. 
Young birds resemble the adult female, but the young males early 
show indications of the red throat and breast and of the black abdomen. 
“Hight males from Negros average: Length, 133; wing, 57.6; tail, 
47.4: culmen, 25; tarsus, 15; middle toe with claw, 15. Three females 
from Cebu measure: Length, 125; wing, 55; tail, 41; culmen, 25; tarsus, 
16; middle toe with claw, 16. Nine males from Sibuyan average: 
Length, 137; wing, 61; tail, 51; culmen, 25; tarsus, 16; middle toe 
with claw, 16. 
“Tt will be seen that the Sibuyan birds belong to a larger race, but 
we do not think they can be specifically separated. Breeding in the 
month of June in Cebu. Native name in Negros ‘a-na-nag-bae.’ Shot 
in Sibuyan 1,100 meters above sea-level.” (Bourns and Worcester MS.) 
Two eggs of the magnificent sunbird collected by Steere in Negros, 
February, 1888, and three eggs collected at the base of Canlaon Volcano 
by Whitehead, March 23, 1896, are described as follows: 
“Shape ovate. Ground-color pale terra-cotta red, very thickly mottled 
all over with a darker tint of the same color, the mottlings heaviest at 
