502 MANUAL OF PHILIPPINE BIRDS. 



474. IRENA TWEEDDALI Sharpe. 

 TWEEDDALE'S FAIRY BLUEBIRD. 



Irena tweeddalii SHABPE, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1877), 3, 208; Trans. Linn. 

 Soc. 2d. ser. Zool. (1877), 1, 333, pi. 51, fig. 1; MCGREGOR and WOB- 

 CESTEB, Hand-List (1906), 79. 



Irena tweeddalei SHABPE, Hand-List (1901), 3, 309. 



Balabac ( ? *) j Calamianes (Bourns & Worcester) ; Palawan (Steere, Lempriere, 

 Whitehead, Platen, Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester, Celestino, White). 



Male. Crown, nape, hind neck, entire back, rump, upper and 

 tail-coverts, lesser and median wing-coverts, and tips of inner greater 

 coverts light turquoise-blue; rest of plumage, including forehead, lores, 

 a wide line over eye, and entire sides of head and neck deep black. 

 Length, 240; wing, 127; tail, 99; culmen from base, 26; bill from 

 nostril, 19; tarsus, 16. 



Female. Very different from the male, being dull verditer-blue; 

 feathers of rump and upper and under tail-coverts tipped with brighter 

 blue; primaries dark brown; secondaries and rectrices dark brown, their 

 exposed edges washed with verditer-blue. Wing, 120; tail, 99; culmen 

 from base, 26; bill from nostril, 19; tarsus, 18. 



"Tweeddale's fairy bluebird was fairly common about fruit trees in the 

 forest and was found abundantly on Mount Pulgar at an elevation of 

 about 750 meters. Five males from Palawan average: Length, 245; 

 wing, 123; tail, 95'; culmen, 31; tarsus, 17; middle toe with claw, 23. 

 Four females, length, 243; wing, 122; tail, 92; culmen, 31; tarsus, 17; 

 middle toe with claw, 24. Males and females from the Calamianes 

 average slightly less in length. Iris red ; bill, legs, feet, and nails black." 

 (Bourns and Worcester MS.) 



Genus HYPSIPETES Vigors, 1831. 



Longest rictal bristles about one-half the length of tarsus ; nuchal hairs 

 moderate in length; bill slender and compressed; a notch near tip of 

 upper mandible, none in lower mandible; tarsus much less than culmen 

 from base ; difference between length of primaries and secondaries greater 

 than length of tarsus; tail slightly rounded; plumage brown and gray, 

 under parts sparsely spotted with white. 



Species. 



a 1 . Smaller; bill and tail shorter; flanks more rufescent or fulvescent. 



ft 1 . Smaller; forehead cinereous ..................................................... fugensis (p. 503) 



6 2 . Larger ...................................................................................... batanensis (p. 503) 



a 2 . Larger; bill and tail longer; flanks grayer .................... camiguinensis (p. 504) 



* Cf . Sharpe, Hand-List (1901), 3, 309. I find no record of this Irena having 

 been taken in Balabac. 



