592. PARDALIPARUS ELEGANS (Lesson).
ELEGANT TITMOUSE.
- Parus elegans Lesson, Traité d’Orn. (1831), 456; Gadow, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1883), 8, 22; Whitehead, Ibis (1899), 224 (habits).
- Pardaliparus elegans Sharpe, Hand-List (1903), 4, 328; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 94 (part).
Pi-pít mó-tas, Manila.
Bongao (Everett); Cebu (Everett, Bourns & Worcester, McGregor); Guimaras (Steere, Steere Exp.); Luzon (Cuming, Everett, Möllendorff, Bourns & Worcester, McGregor, Mearns, Bartsch); Mindoro (Bourns & Worcester); Negros (Everett, Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester, Celestino); Panay (Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester); Sulu (Guillemard, Bourns & Worcester);[78] Tawi Tawi (Bourns & Worcester).[78]
Male.—Entire top of head and hind neck glossy black; in the center of hind neck a large irregular yellow spot; upper back mostly black, but with some large spots of pale yellow; scapulars, lower back, and rump olive-green; tail-coverts black; chin, throat, chest, and sides of chest glossy black, separated from the black of head and neck by a broad lemon-yellow stripe which begins under the front of the eye and ends on side of neck; remainder of under parts lemon-yellow; wings black; inner webs of quills edged with white; most of the primaries white toward the tips of outer webs; secondaries and some of the primaries tipped with white; greater and median secondary-coverts with broad white tips, forming two wing-bars; rectrices black, tipped with white, three outer pairs with white on outer webs. Iris and bill black; feet and nails plumbeous. Length, about 120; wing, 65; tail, 42; culmen from base, 11; bill from nostril, 8; tarsus, 17.
Female.—Duller, the chin and throat dark brown instead of glossy black. An adult breeding female from Benguet Province, Luzon, measures: Wing, 62; tail, 37; culmen from base, 11.5; bill from nostril, 8.5; tarsus, 18.
Young.—Birds of the year have the entire upper parts olive-green, but the yellow nuchal patch is always indicated; under parts gray to pale yellow, somewhat washed with olive; chin and throat more or less uniform with the abdomen, but the black patch beginning to show in older individuals; wings and tail marked as in the adult.
“The habits of the elegant titmouse are like those of P. amabilis; it feeds in leaves at the ends of branches, often back downward. Ten males average: Length, 110; wing, 63; tail, 37.5; culmen, 12; tarsus, 17; middle toe with claw, 16. Four females, length, 101; wing, 59; tail, 35; tarsus, 16; middle toe with claw, 15; culmen, 11. Iris dark brown; legs and feet slaty blue to black; bill black; nails gray. We found this species breeding in Cebu in the month of June.” (Bourns and Worcester MS.)