- Parus amabilis Sharpe, Trans. Linn. Soc. 2d. ser. Zool. (1877), 1, 338, pl. 5, fig. 2; Gadow, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1883), 8, 22.
- Pardaliparus amabilis Sharpe, Hand-List (1903), 4, 327; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 93.
Balabac (Steere, Everett); Palawan (Whitehead, Platen, Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester, Celestino, White).
Adult male.—Entire head, neck, chin, throat, and chest glossy blue-black; neck bordered behind by a mantle of clear canary-yellow; back and rump lavender-gray; tail-coverts black; breast and remainder of under parts bright lemon-yellow; wings and tail black; greater and median coverts and primary-coverts broadly tipped with white; primaries with small white tips or marks on outer webs; secondaries with wider white tips and pale gray edges; inner webs of quills edged with white; rectrices broadly tipped with white and all but the center pair with outer webs white, but this much reduced in pair next the center pair. Wing, 72; tail, 46; culmen from base, 10.5; bill from nostril, 7; tarsus, 16.
Adult female.—Black of head and throat much duller than in the male; yellow of the mantle reduced to a narrow band; remainder of the back olive-green, somewhat mixed with lavender-gray on rump; white marks on wings and tail much smaller than in the male. Wing, 70; tail, 44; culmen from base, 10.5; bill from nostril, 7; tarsus, 16.
“Young.—Very different from the adult. It is brown above with an olive-greenish tinge, the head and face browner. Below it is yellow, duller than in the adult, the throat olive; wings and tail browner than in the adult, with the same white spotting, but not so pronounced.” (Sharpe.)
Genus PENTHORNIS Hellmayr, 1901.
The genus Penthornis is distinguished from Pardaliparus by its nearly uniform black plumage and white frontal band.
Species.
- a1. Wings uniform black with no white bar. semilarvatus (p. [608])
- a2. Wings black, but with a conspicuous white bar near the base of primaries and secondaries. tessacourbe (p. [608])