Birds of the Philippine Islands. 541 



pair of tail-feathers arc only about 0'6 inch longer than the 

 second pair, 



19. Rhinomyias albtgulariSj Bourns & Worcester^ Occ. 

 Pap. Minnesota Acarl. Sci. i. no. i. p. 27 (1894). 



One of the most interesting birds sent from Negros is this 

 White-throated Flycatcher^ very nearly allied to R. pectora/is, 

 which inhabits the south of the Malay Peninsula^ Sumatra, 

 and Borneo. The present species may of course be dis- 

 tinguished by its considerably larger size and the absence of 

 the white patch in front of the eye, as well as by the more 

 olivaceous brown cheeks and chest-band, which are not so 

 strongly contrasted with the white of the throat. But these 

 differences are really slight, and it seems very curious that 

 the Negros and Guimaras birds should so closely resemble 

 R. pectoralis from Borneo, while we find two distinct but 

 closely allied species, R. ruficauda and R. ocularis, occurring 

 in the intermediate islands. In Prof. Steere^s collection wo 

 have received the types of R. samarensis as well as two 

 specimens collected at Ayala, Mindanao, which he considers 

 to represent an undescribed species. They apparently differ 

 from his R. samarensis only in having the culmen reddish 

 brown instead of blackish brown ; but this difference is due 

 to immaturity, as is further proved by the subterminal buff 

 spots on the innermost secondaries, which are undoubtedly 

 remains of the first plumage. Again, Prof. Stecre distin- 

 guishes his R. samarensis from R. ruficauda, Sharpe, of 

 which we have several examples. He says that the former 

 differs " in having the cheeks brown, not olive, and in having 

 the under surface washed with fulvous- brown, this forming 

 a wide band across the chest. *^ In comparing the type of 

 R. samarensis with typical examples of R. ruficauda from 

 Basilan, we fail to find any difference in the colour of the 

 cheeks, and the somewhat indistinct band across the chest 

 which can hardly be described as '' broad/' is equally well- 

 developed in a male from Basilan. There can be no doubt 

 that the birds from Samar {R. samarensis, Steere), Mindanao, 

 and Basilan {R. ruficauda, Sharpe) belong to one species and 

 must stand as R. ruficauda, Sharpe. 



