249. LORICULUS CHRYSONOTUS Sclater.
CEBU COLASISI.
- Loriculus chrysonotus Sclater, Ibis (1872), 324, pl. 11; Salvadori, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1891), 20, 522; Sharpe, Hand-List (1900), 2, 36; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 50.
Co-lan′-si, Toledo, Cebu.
Cebu (Meyer, Steere, Everett, Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester, McGregor).
“Adult male (type).—Green, underneath yellowish green; forehead, rump, and upper tail-coverts red; vertex, occiput, nape, and upper back golden yellow; an obsolete spot in the middle of the nape, also the upper back, tinged with orange; cheeks, sides of the head and of the neck grass-green; a large patch on the throat orange-red, the yellow color of the base of the feathers showing through; sides of the lower back tinged with blue; quills and tail above dark green; inner web of the quills and tail beneath blue; tail-feathers tipped with light green. ‘Iris brown; bill orange-red; feet orange.’ (Everett.) Length, 157; wing, 99; tail, 51; bill, 15; tarsus, 11.
“Adult female.—Differs from the male in having the anterior part of the cheeks and throat tinged with blue; no red patch on the throat; the golden yellow tinge on the head and nape not so bright; the upper back, or interscapular region, green, slightly washed with golden orange, and the blue tinge on the sides of the lower back paler.” (Salvadori.)
“This was the only Loriculus which we failed to find abundantly in coconut-trees where the trees themselves were accessible. In 1888 several days of hard work in the great coconut-groves near Carmen, Cebu, brought us but a single specimen. In 1893, however, we found it quite abundant in the woods near Toledo. It is possible that its disappearance from the coconut-groves of the east coast is due to the lack of suitable breeding ground near by. The forest has been almost entirely cleared from the island, and the little which remains will soon be gone.
“Five males average, 154 in length; wing, 96; tail, 54; culmen, 14; tarsus, 11; middle toe with claw, 19. Five females, length, 157; wing, 97; tail, 55; culmen, 13; tarsus, 11; middle toe with claw, 20. Iris dark brown; legs and feet orange-red; nails black; bill usually scarlet, may be pale red or even yellow.” (Bourns and Worcester MS.)