“A young male, nearly adult, has a few white feathers on chin and throat and a faint wash of light buff on the flanks. A much younger bird has many of the feathers of the back tipped with rusty brown and the greater wing-coverts and quills washed with the same color; chin and throat almost pure white; an ill-defined black collar; the entire under surface washed with light buff, deeper on the flanks.
“This well-marked species is extremely rare in Masbate. It feeds in dense thickets in the deep woods and we never heard it utter a note. The Luzon bird, C. luzoniensis, has a superciliary stripe, but this stripe is not nearly so broad as in this species, and as the strongly marked superciliary line is one of the most noticeable characters of the Masbate bird we have named it accordingly.” (Bourns and Worcester.)
544. KITTACINCLA NIGRA Sharpe.
PALAWAN BLACK SHAMA.
- Cittocincla nigra Sharpe, Trans. Linn. Soc. 2d. ser. Zool. (1877), 1, 335, pl. 52; Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1883), 7, 90; Hand-List (1903), 4, 161; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 86.
Balabac (Everett); Calamianes (Bourns & Worcester); Palawan (Steere, Everett, Whitehead, Platen, Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester, Everett, Celestino, White).
Adult male and female.—Almost entirely glossy blue-black; some feathers of lower abdomen, flanks, and sides of back with white shafts, or with subterminal white spots which are more or less concealed; under tail-coverts black, broadly tipped with white; four central rectrices black, the others white with concealed black bases; wings black, most of the feathers edged with glossy blue-black. Length, 215 to 220 mm. A male from Palawan measures: Wing, 88; tail, 105; culmen from base, 17; bill from nostril, 12; tarsus, 26; middle toe with claw, 23. A female, wing, 81; tail, 98; culmen, from base, 17; bill from nostril, 11; tarsus, 22.
Young.—Similar to the adult but throat and breast less glossy; abdomen, flanks, and crissum entirely white, thighs brown; the flanks slightly washed with earthy brown. In more nearly adult plumage the throat and breast become glossy and the white of the abdomen is reduced in extent and broken up; the thighs become black.
“Quite common in Palawan, where we found it skulking in thickets in the deep woods, usually near or on the ground, though it would fly up into the trees if followed. In the Calamianes Islands we found it abundantly in bamboo thickets.
“Four males from Palawan average: Length, 205; wing, 87; tail, 107; culmen, 21; tarsus, 24; middle toe with claw, 22. Two females, length, 230; wing, 90; tail, 105; culmen, 20; tarsus, 25; middle toe with claw, 22. Iris dark brown to black; legs, feet, and nails brown to black; bill black. Called by natives of Palawan ‘tam-be-lad-nun’.” (Bourns and Worcester MS.)