“Adult male.—General color above dull blue, with half concealed tufts of white on the sides of the rump; lesser wing-coverts brighter cobalt, forming a shoulder-patch; median and greater series blackish, externally like the back; alula, primary-coverts, and quills black, with narrow margins of dull blue, broader on the secondaries; tail-feathers blackish, greenish blue externally; head like the back, the base of the forehead brighter cobalt, extending backward over the eye and forming an eyebrow; lores black; sides of face and ear-coverts and cheeks black, glossed with dull blue; a moustachial line of blue feathers tipped with white; a black chin spot; throat and fore neck orange-buff, extending down the sides of the body, but paler and inclining to whitish below the black chin-spot; center of breast and abdomen white, as also the under tail-coverts, with a slight tinge of buff; lateral breast-feathers tipped with blue, like the back; thighs white, with blackish bases; axillars and under wing-coverts white, slightly tinged with buff; edge of wing blue. Length, 150; culmen, 18; wing, 74; tail, 63; tarsus, 18.

“This species is closely allied to Siphia philippinensis, but is much larger, of a more greenish blue, and is especially distinguished by the white moustache, forming a narrow line down each side of the throat.” (Sharpe.)

“Female.—Forehead, crown, and occiput dark plumbeous-gray, washed with olive, each feather with narrow obsolete transverse bars, which are most pronounced on the forehead; sides of neck, mantle, scapulars, and back warm olivaceous-brown, deepening posteriorly into bright ferruginous-brown on the upper tail-coverts; rectrices dark sepia-brown, the exterior webs ferruginous-brown, except on the two central quills, which are wholly ferruginous-brown, and all showing in certain lights close obsolete transverse bars; under surface of the quills hair-brown; primaries dark brown, and all except the first and second margined basally on the outer webs by a thin line of ferruginous-brown; the secondaries and tertials also dark brown, but increasingly margined [with] bright ferruginous-brown until the entire outer webs are of the latter color; under wing-coverts, axillars, and edges of wing white, tinged with buff; major wing-coverts dark brown, with bright ferruginous-brown outer webs; the other coverts broadly tipped with bright ferruginous-brown; a conspicuous line from the nares over the eye and reaching nearly to the posterior angle of the orbit, and a line fringing the lower margin of the orbit, pure white (tinged with buff in some examples); lores black; ear-coverts dark gray, washed with olive; cheeks the same, but rather darker gray; sides and flanks olive-gray, washed with buff; chin white; throat pale buff, passing into deep orange-buff on the breast, on the sides of which some of the plumes show obsolete dusky margins; abdomen and lower tail-coverts white; thigh-plumes dark gray, edged with white. Length, 147; culmen, 17; wing, 73; tail, 60; tarsus, 17.

“In another female from Balabac the dimensions are rather less, but in my original Puerto Princesa specimen they agree very closely. This species is marked by its large bill. The culmen in the type-skin of the male, measured from its insertion in the skull, is 17 mm., and it is the same in a female collected by Mr. Whitehead at Taguso in Palawan.” (Everett.)

“Abundant in Palawan and the Calamianes islands. Habits like those of S. philippinensis. Five males average: Length, 149; wing, 75; tail, 64; culmen, 18; tarsus, 17; middle toe with claw, 18. Three females, length, 149; wing, 70; tail, 58; culmen, 17; tarsus, 16; middle toe with claw, 17. Iris dark brown; legs and feet nearly black often tinged with bluish; bill black.” (Bourns and Worcester MS.)

The female of this species has been variously identified as Cyornis banyumas, Siphia elegans, and Cyornis herioti. Everett was the first ornithologist to describe it under the name Siphia lemprieri and his description is here quoted.

402. CYORNIS PLATENÆ (Blasius).
PLATEN’S CYORNIS.

Palawan (Lempriere, Whitehead, Platen, Bourns & Worcester).