A Manual of Philippine Birds

by Richard C. McGregor

Bill very heavy and strongly curved; edge of mandible but slightly nicked; tail long; rectrices graduated, about 25 mm. difference between longest feathers and shortest; colors green and yellowish green; wing-coverts variegated; length, 300 mm.

Species.

• a¹. Top of head bright blue; back green. lucionensis (p. [281])
• a². Top of head green; back blue.
  • b¹. Median upper wing-coverts edged with pure golden yellow. megalorhynchos (p. [283])
  • b². Median and greater upper wing-coverts edged with yellowish green.
    • c¹. Wing about 195 mm.; head darker green. everetti (p. [283])
    • c². Wing about 225 mm.; head lighter, more yellowish green. burbidgei (p. [284])

242. TANYGNATHUS LUCIONENSIS (Linnæus).

PHILIPPINE GREEN PARROT.

• Psittacus lucionensis Linnæus, Syst. Nat. ed. 12 (1766), 1, 146.
• Tanygnathus luconensis Salvadori, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1891), 20, 424; Grant, Ibis (1896), 561 (critical notes).
• Tanygnathus luzonensis Sharpe, Hand-List (1900), 2, 30.
• Tanygnathus lucionensis McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 49.

Pi-coy′, Bohol and Ticao.

Bantayan (McGregor); Basilan (Everett, Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester, Doherty, McGregor); Bohol (McGregor); Cagayan Sulu (Guillemard, McGregor); Calamianes (Bourns & Worcester); Caluya (Porter); Cebu (Everett, McGregor); Guimaras (Meyer, Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester); Lapac (Guillemard); Leyte (Everett); Luzon (Meyer, Whitehead, McGregor); Maestre de Campo (McGregor & Worcester); Malanipa (Murray); Marinduque (Steere Exp.); Masbate (Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester); Mindanao (Murray, Everett, Koch & Schadenberg, Bourns & Worcester, Goodfellow, Celestino); Mindoro (Steere Exp., Schmacker, Bourns & Worcester, McGregor, Porter); Negros (Layard, Steere, Everett, Steere Exp., Keay); Palawan (Steere, Everett, Lempriere, Whitehead, Platen, Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester, White); Panay (Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester); Romblon (Bourns & Worcester, McGregor); Samar (Whitehead); Sibutu (Everett); Sibuyan (Bourns & Worcester, McGregor); Siquijor (Bourns & Worcester, Celestino); Sulu (Guillemard, Bourns & Worcester); Tablas (Bourns & Worcester); Tawi Tawi (Bourns & Worcester); Ticao (McGregor); Verde (McGregor).

Adult.—Forehead, lores, and sides of face grass-green connecting with the grass-green collar of hind neck;[33] crown and occiput bright blue; rest of upper parts green, yellowish on the mantle and more or less mixed with light blue on the back; below yellowish green, becoming clear green on abdomen and under tail-coverts; primaries blackish on inner web, dark green on outer web, tips of shorter ones blue; secondaries mostly blue with light green edges; tertials green with blue tips; alula and primary-coverts dark blue, black along the shafts and more or less washed with green; distal greater and median coverts bright blue with yellow-green margins; proximal greater and median coverts with the middle black, surrounded by a narrow line of bright blue followed by a wide edge of old gold; lesser coverts black, some of the proximal ones bordered with blue and old gold; tail grass-green above, dark golden yellow below.

Iris very pale straw, a narrow inner ring of darker yellow; upper mandible bright scarlet, except tip which like the lower mandible is dull yellow, cere black; legs dull green; nails dark horn. Length, 300 to 330 mm. Specimens from different parts of the Archipelago vary greatly in measurements and colors. The sexes do not differ except that the female is a little the smaller. Four males from Ticao average: Wing, 195; tail, 132; culmen from cere, 33; tarsus, 18. Two females from Ticao average: Wing, 187; tail, 126; culmen from cere, 28; tarsus, 18.