Male.—“Above grayish olive; the forehead grayish, with black shafts to the feathers, the occipital region with a tinge of chestnut; feathers round the eye and in the parotic region ashy; throat and chin pure white, broadly striped with black; breast pale yellow, also broadly striped, shading off below into the yellowish olive-gray of the crissum and under tail-coverts; thighs with a slight reddish tint; under wing-coverts white; wings chestnut; tail brown with traces of dark barring. Iris pale yellow; bill and feet lead-colored. Length, about 145; wing, 64; tail, 60; bill from gape, 18; tarsus, 20.

“This species, which was common in low bushes in the more open situations in the island, is at once distinguishable from M. bornensis by the upper surface being of an ashy olive-brown instead of chestnut. It has a loud note of alarm, is very restless in its movements, and apparently rarely flies far off the ground.” (Guillemard.)

Genus MACRONOUS Jardine and Selby, 1835.

Rictal bristles about as long as bill from nostril; nasal opening oval and not protected by a flap; culmen from base less than tarsus; long feathers of the back reaching to or beyond the tips of tail-coverts, their shafts stiff and usually white; feathers on sides of body long, decomposed, and hair-like; most of the plumage loose and decomposed. Macronous resembles Mixornis in its long dorsal feathers, but differs from the latter in having the shafts of these feathers thick and stiff. Zosterornis differs from both of these genera in having shorter dorsal plumes and in having a flap above the nasal opening.

Species.

515. MACRONOUS STRIATICEPS Sharpe.
BASILAN TIT BABBLER.