Guimaras (Bourns & Worcester); Negros (Bourns & Worcester, Whitehead.)

“Adult male.—General color above ochraceous brown, duller on head, much brighter on rump, becoming chestnut on the tips of upper tail-coverts; upper wing-coverts like back; quills nearly black, washed with rusty brown on outer webs, this wash changing to whitish on the primaries; upper surface of tail dull chestnut, the feathers becoming almost black at tips; lores gray; ear-coverts and sides of hind neck like crown; a ring of feathers round eye slightly lighter; chin and entire throat white; entire breast light olive-brown; flanks washed with same color; abdomen pure white; under tail-coverts white, light brown at tips; under wing-coverts, axillars, and inner webs of quills buffy white; bend of wing olive-brown.

“The white throat contrasts strongly with the brown of neck and breast and at once distinguishes this species from all other Philippine representatives of the genus. R. albigularis is a deep woods form and is extremely rare in the localities visited by us.” (Bourns and Worcester.)

“One of the most interesting birds sent from Negros is this white-throated flycatcher, very nearly allied to R. pectoralis, which inhabits the south of the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, and Borneo. The present species may, of course, be distinguished by its considerably larger size and the absence of the white patch in front of the eye, as well as by the more olivaceous brown cheeks and chest-band, which are not so strongly contrasted with the white of the throat. But these differences are really slight, and it seems very curious that the Negros and Guimaras birds should so closely resemble R. pectoralis from Borneo, while we find two distinct but closely allied species, R. ruficauda and R. ocularis, occurring in the intermediate islands. In Prof. Steere’s collection we have received the types of R. samarensis as well as two specimens collected at Ayala, Mindanao, which he considers to represent an undescribed species. They apparently differ from his R. samarensis only in having the culmen reddish brown instead of blackish brown; but this difference is due to immaturity, as is further proved by the subterminal buff spots on the innermost secondaries, which are undoubtedly remains of the first plumage. Again, Prof. Steere distinguishes his R. samarensis from R. ruficauda Sharpe, of which we have several examples. He says that the former differs ‘in having the cheeks brown, not olive, and in having the under surface washed with fulvous brown, this forming a white band across the chest.’ In comparing the type of R. samarensis with typical examples of R. ruficauda from Basilan, we fail to find any difference in the color of the cheeks, and the somewhat indistinct band across the chest, which can hardly be described as ‘broad,’ is equally well developed in a male from Basilan. There can be no doubt that the birds from Samar (R. samarensis Steere), Mindanao, and Basilan (R. ruficauda Sharpe) belong to one species and must stand as R. ruficauda Sharpe.” (Grant.)

Whitehead collected a nest and two eggs of this species in Negros on March 31, 1906. They are described as follows:

“Shape [of eggs] short ovate, one much blunter at the small end than the other. Ground-color very pale dull rufous, indistinctly mottled all over with darker shades of the same color. In general appearance these eggs strongly resemble one type laid by the common robin. Measurements 23 mm. by 17 mm.

“The nest, composed of moss and lined with fine roots, was placed in a hole in an old rotten tree about six feet [two meters] from the ground. The eggs were partially incubated, and the female was snared on the nest.” (Grant and Whitehead.)

431. RHINOMYIAS GOODFELLOWI Grant.
GOODFELLOW’S RHINOMYIAS.