The female is unknown.
“Iris light brown; bill brownish black, mandible pinkish brown; legs yellowish flesh-color. This bird has a sweet and powerful song and in this respect it differs from the other species. It is very shy and difficult to obtain.” (Whitehead.)
“The yellow-breasted tailorbird is extremely rare. A single specimen was secured by the Steere Expedition, and we were able to secure but one more. Both birds were shot in deep forest close to the bank of a stream. Our specimen, a male, measures: Length, 114; wing, 42.6; tail, 40; culmen, 19; tarsus, 21; middle toe with claw, 18. Iris chocolate-brown; legs, feet, and nails very light brown; bill black. Breeding in August.” (Bourns and Worcester MS.)
Genus CISTICOLA Kaup, 1829.
Bill small, slender, and sharply pointed; culmen gently curved in its terminal half; bill from nostril equal to hind-toe without claw; wing somewhat rounded and flat; difference between the length of primaries and of secondaries less than first primary; first primary slender, much less than one-half the second, the latter nearly as long as third; fourth and fifth equal and longest; rectrices long, much graduated, their tips rounded; the tail is similar to that of Orthotomus, but the feathers are much wider; tarsus and feet well developed, the outstretched toes reaching to or beyond tip of tail. Birds of this genus present puzzling seasonal changes of plumage. The tail is longer in the winter than in the breeding season, and the female is somewhat smaller than the male. The seasonal variation in color is great and has led ornithologists to name several species which do not exist. It is not certain that the smaller species found in the Philippines is really C. exilis, and it may be either C. erythrocephala Jerdon or C. semirufa Cabanis.[74]
Species.
- a1. Larger, wing and tail longer; breeding male with top of head ocherous-buff, streaked with blackish brown, and with tail about 40 mm. cisticola (p. [580])
- a2. Smaller, wing and tail shorter, breeding male with top of head golden buff or tawny, and tail about 30 mm. exilis (p. [581])