Whitehead collected a nest and two eggs of this species at Cape Engaño, Luzon, April 29, 1895, which are described as follows:
“Shape ovate. Ground-color rich cream-color. A zone of spots and small blotches round the larger end; the under-markings pale slate-gray, the over-markings darker cream-color. Measurements 19 mm. by 14 mm.
“Nest of the usual cup-shaped type made by all the species of Rhipidura, and placed on a dead bough in an open pathway in a conspicuous position.” (Grant and Whitehead.)
“Sharpe mentions a specimen of R. cyaniceps in the British Museum collected in Mindanao by Cuming. It seems to us extremely unlikely that such a bird could have been overlooked by the numerous collectors who have since visited that island, and we do not believe it exists there. Cuming does not seem to have been over particular about recording exact localities in the case of his Philippine collections, and it is not at all improbable that this record is an error.” (Bourns and Worcester MS.)
420. RHIPIDURA SAULI Bourns and Worcester.
SAUL’S FANTAIL.
- Rhipidura sauli Bourns and Worcester, Minn. Acad. Nat. Sci. Occ. Papers (1894), 1, 6; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 74.
Tablas (Bourns & Worcester, Celestino).
“Adult male.—Head, crown, and nape dull bluish gray, each of the feathers of crown with a narrow, decidedly lighter, shaft-mark, lacking in feathers of nape and mantle; back, rump, upper tail-coverts, scapulars, and upper wing-coverts chestnut; wing black; tertiaries and secondaries heavily edged with chestnut; primaries lightly edged with same color; central pair of tail-feathers black, faintly edged with chestnut on basal half and with shafts black; next pair with inner webs black, outer webs chestnut, shafts black on inner side, chestnut on outer; rest of feathers of tail including shafts chestnut above and below; sides of face, ear-coverts, chin, throat, and upper breast bluish gray like the mantle; feathers of breast with distinct lighter shaft-markings; feathers of lower breast gradually changing to the chestnut of abdomen; flanks, under tail-coverts, and thighs chestnut; axillars and under wing-coverts bluish gray at base, heavily tipped with chestnut; inner webs of quills tipped with chestnut. Female like male but paler. Iris dark brown; legs and feet vary from light to very dark slaty brown; nails blackish; bill black, except base of lower mandible which is gray.
“Twelve males average 184 in length; wing, 84; tail, 91; culmen, 16; tarsus, 18. Three females, length, 174; wing, 76; tail, 83; culmen, 16; tarsus, 19.