PARDALIPARUS. 605 



592. PARDALIPARUS ELEGANS (Lesson). 

 ELEGANT TITMOUSE. 



Parus elegans LESSON, Traits d'Orn. (1831), 456; GADOW, Cat. Birds Brit. 



Mus. (1883), 8, 22; WHITEHEAD, Ibis (1899), 224 (habits). 

 Pardaliparus elegans SHARPE, Hand-List (1903), 4, 328; MCGREGOR and 



WORCESTER, Hand-List (1906), 94 (part). 



Pi-pit mo-tas, Manila. 



Bongao (Everett) ; Cebu (Everett, Bourns & Worcester, McGregor) ; Guimaras 

 (Steere, Steere Exp.) ; Luzon (Cuming, Everett, Mollendorff, Bourns & Worcester, 

 McGregor, M earns, Bartsch) ; Mindoro (Bourns & Worcester) ; Negros (Everett, 

 Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester, Celestino) ; Panay (Steere Exp., Bourns & 

 Worcester) ; Sulu (Guillemard, Bourns & Worcester) ;* Tawi Tawi (Bourns & 

 Worcester) * 



Male. Entire top of head and hind neck glossy black; in the center 

 of hind neck a large irregular yellow spot; upper back mostly black, but 

 with some large spots of pale yellow; scapulars, lower back, and rump 

 olive-green; tail-coverts black; chin, throat, chest, and sides of chest 

 glossy black, separated from the black of head and neck by a broad 

 lemon-yellow stripe which begins under the front of the eye and ends 

 on side of neck; remainder of under parts lemon-yellow; wings black; 

 inner webs of quills edged with white; most of the primaries white 

 toward the tips of outer webs; secondaries and some of the primaries 

 tipped with white; greater and median secondary-coverts with broad 

 white tips, forming two wing-bars; rectrices black, tipped with white, 

 three outer pairs with white on outer webs. Iris and bill black; feet 

 and nails plumbeous. Length, about 120; wing, 65; tail, 42; culmen 

 from base, 11; bill from nostril, 8; tarsus, 17. 



Female. Duller, the chin and throat dark brown instead of glossy 

 black. An adult breeding female from Benguet Province, Luzon, meas- 

 ures: Wing, 62; tail, 37; culmen from base, 11.5; bill from nostril, 

 8.5; tarsus, 18. 



Young. Birds of the year have the entire upper parts olive-green, 

 but the yellow nuchal patch is always indicated; under parts gray to 

 pale yellow, somewhat washed with olive; chin and throat more or less 

 uniform with the abdomen, but the black patch beginning to show in 

 older individuals; wings and tail marked as in the adult. 



"The habits of the elegant titmouse are like those of P. amabilis; it 

 feeds in leaves at the ends of branches, often back downward. Ten 

 males average: Length, 110; wing, 63; tail, 37.5; culmen, 12; tarsus, 

 17; middle toe with claw, 16. Four females, length, 101; wing, 59; 

 tail, 35; tarsus, 16; middle toe with claw, 15; culmen, 11. Iris dark 



* The titmbuse of Sulu and Tawi Tawi is probably not true Parus elegans. 

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