A Manual of Philippine Birds

by Richard C. McGregor

TWEEDDALE’S MARSH WARBLER.

• Megalurus ruficeps, not Megalurus ? ruficeps Sykes, Proc. Zool. Soc. (1832), 91, Tweeddale, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. (1877), 20, 95; Proc. Zool. Soc. (1877), 695, pl. 72; Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1881), 7, 125; Hand-List (1903), 4, 202; Grant and Whitehead, Ibis (1898), 240, pl. 5, fig. 7 (eggs); Whitehead, Ibis (1899), 219 (habits); Oates and Reid, Cat. Birds’ Eggs (1905), 4, 200, pl. 9, fig. 19; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 89.
• Megalurus tweeddalei McGregor, Phil. Jour. Sci. (1908), 3, sec. A, 283.

Banton (Celestino); Basilan (Everett, Bourns & Worcester); Bohol (Steere Exp., McGregor); Cebu (Everett, Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester, McGregor); Guimaras (Steere Exp.); Lubang (McGregor); Luzon (Everett, Whitehead, McGregor); Marinduque (Steere Exp.); Masbate (McGregor); Mindanao (Platen, Goodfellow, Celestino); Mindoro (Bourns & Worcester, McGregor); Negros (Everett, Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester, Whitehead, Keay, Celestino); Panay (Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester); Romblon (Bourns & Worcester, McGregor); Samar (Whitehead); Sibuyan (McGregor); Siquijor (Bourns & Worcester); Tablas (Bourns & Worcester); Ticao (McGregor).

Adult.—Entire top of head rufous-brown; sides of neck and back olive-gray, the latter heavily streaked with blackish brown; lower back and rump olive-brown; tail-coverts olive-gray with narrow brown shaft-lines; lores, superciliary line, cheeks, and ear-coverts ashy gray; a rufous line behind eye; under parts whitish; sides ashy gray, flanks browner; thighs and crissum buff; wings and tail brown with lighter brown edges. A male from Mindanao measures: Wing, 69; tail, 107; culmen from base, 17; bill from nostril, 9; tarsus, 28. A female from Luzon, wing, 66; tail, 114; culmen from base, 15; bill from nostril, 9; tarsus, 27.

“Five males average: Length, 225; wing, 71; tail, 109; culmen, 18.5; tarsus, 27.6; middle toe with claw, 28. Five females, length, 211; wing, 68; tail, 104; culmen, 18.5; tarsus, 27.6; middle toe with claw, 28. Iris brown; legs and feet light brown.” (Bourns and Worcester MS.)

Three eggs of Tweeddale’s marsh warbler, collected by Steere in Marinduque, May 8, 1888, are thus described: “Shape ovate. Ground-color very pale pinkish white, sparingly marked all over with small blotches and minute dots of light red and pale violet-gray under-markings, the latter forming a more or less distinct zone round the larger pole. Measurements 21 mm. by 16 mm. Nest of the bulbul type, lined with fine wiry grasses and fiber.” (Grant and Whitehead.)

Genus ACANTHOPNEUSTE Blasius, 1858.

Bill slender and acute, a slight notch near its tip; rictal and nasal bristles short; wing long and pointed; first primary very short, slender and acute, usually little more or less in length than primary-coverts; third and fourth primaries longest; tail moderate in length and square; tarsus and toes slender; bill from nostril less than one-half tarsus and equal to hind toe with half its claw; divisions between tarsal scutes obsolete. Upper parts dull olive-green, under parts pale yellow or white. The birds of this genus resemble some of the small flycatchers (Cryptolopha), but are distinguished by their short first primary.

Species.

• a¹. Second primary equal to or greater than the sixth.
  • b¹. First primary shorter, from 7.5 to 11.5 mm. in length, equal to or less than the primary-coverts; under parts grayer borealis (p. [584])
  • b². First primary longer, from 12.5 to 15 mm. in length, and longer than primary-coverts; under parts yellower xanthodryas (p. [585])
• a². Second primary equal to or greater than the ninth, and from 17 to 20 mm. in length; under parts grayish yellow lugubris (p. [586])