56 BOURNS AND WORCESTER: PRELIMINARY NOTES. 



himself does not feel at all sure that it came from Negros. D. tri- 

 gonostigma may, then, be safely excluded from the list of Philip, 

 pine Dicaeidae, especially since the bird fauna of Negros is well 

 known, and no other collector has ever met with it there, whereas, 

 D. dorsale is very abundant in the island. 



There are, however, nine species of Dicaeidae in the Philippines 

 which must, we think, be regarded as representative species of D. tri- 

 gonostigma. One of these, D. besti Steere, from Siquijor, has not 

 been very completely described and the female was unknown to 

 Dr. Steere. 



Dicaeum besti is a well marked species discovered by ourselves in 

 1888. It is apparently confined to the little island of Siquijor. 



Adult male. Above like D. cinereigulare but with a slightly 

 heavier yellow wash on rump. Chin bright yellow. Throat and up- 

 per breast bluish gray. 



Adult female. Entire upper surface and sides of head and neck 

 slaty grey washed with olive green most heavily on back and upper 

 tail- coverts. Wing-coverts and secondaries edged with olive green. 

 Rest of upper surface of wing dark blackish brown, the primaries 

 edged with ashy grey. Chin and throat light yellow. Sides of 

 throat, breast and flanks ashy grey washed with yellow. A stripe 

 of bright yellow beginning on breast and running down abdomen, 

 lender tail-coverts bright yellow. Under wing-coverts and inner 

 webs of quills white faintly washed with yellow. Axillaries light 

 yellow. 



The males of the nine species may be characterized as follows: 



D. xanthopygium has yellow rump and throat and orange breast. 



D. intermedia has the rump slaty blue very faintly washed with olive 

 green. Chin and throat grey uniformly washed with yellow. Breast 

 pale orange . 



D. sibuyanica has rump faintly washed with yellow, a clear uni- 

 form blue grey throat and a pale orange breast. It is farther dis- 

 tinguished by its size, being the largest representative of the D. tri- 

 gonostigma type yet discovered in the Philippines. 



D. dorsale. Rump uniform with back or very faintly tinged with 

 olive green. Under surface intense orange usually paler on throat. 



D. pallidior. Rump uniform with back. Under surface paler than in 

 any other Philippine representative of the D. trigonostrigma type. Breast 

 only very faintly orange. 



D. besti. Male has rump washed with olive. Chin yellow, throat 

 grey, breast bright orange. The female also differs strikingly from 

 that of any other Philippine species having the throat much like 

 that of the male. 



