The Gardens of the Sun / A naturalist's journal on the mountains and in the forests and swamps of Borneo and the Sulu Archipelago

by F. W. Burbidge

[Luzon (Meyer); Guimaras (Meyer); Negros (L. C. Layard, Steere, Everett); Cebu (Everett); Leyte (Everett); Mindanao (Steere, Everett); Malanipa (Murray); Sulu (Burbidge, Peale); Palawan (Steere, Everett).]

4. Tanygnathus burbidgei, sp. n.

Similis T. muelleri, ex Celebes, sed dorso toto sordide prasino, capite flavicanti-viridi et alis omnino viridibus distinguendus.

This fine new species of Tanygnathus is closely allied to T. muelleri of Celebes and T. everetti of Mindanao. It differs from T. muelleri in having the back green instead of yellow, while the head is yellowish green and not emerald-green; there is also no blue on the wing-coverts, the whole wing being green.

The following is a full description of the bird.

Adult. General colour above dark grass-green, including the hind neck, entire mantle, and scapulars; wings a little lighter green, the wing-coverts and secondaries with narrow yellow margins, the primaries blackish on the inner web, externally dark grass-green with a slight blue shade along the shaft, the first primary black shaded with blue on the outer web; entire back and rump deep cobalt-blue; upper tail-coverts green, slightly shaded with yellow on the margins; tail-feathers dark green, with a narrow margin of yellow at the tip, the under surface of the tail golden-yellow; head yellowish green, the sides of the face also of this colour; the under-surface of the body bright grass-green, yellow on the throat and fore neck and passing into green on the breast and abdomen; under wing-coverts and under tail-coverts of the same green as the breast, with yellow margins; quills ashy blackish below. Total length 15·5 inches, culmen 1·8, wing 8·6, tail 6·4, tarsus 0·65.

On comparing T. burbidgei with T. everetti, one is struck at once by the larger size of the former and its yellowish green head, the crown being emerald-green in T. everetti, which also has the wing only 7·55 inches in length (Samar: Mus. Brit.). None of the Sulu birds, of which there are five in the collections, have the feathers of the mantle edged with blue as in the Samar individual.

5. Elanus hypoleucus, Gould.

Elanus hypoleucus, Sharpe, Cat. B. i. p. 338; Wald. Tr. Z. S. ix. p. 142; Tweedd. P. Z. S. 1877, p. 757.

An adult specimen: wing 11·5 inches.