A Manual of Philippine Birds

by Richard C. McGregor

The genus Dicæum is distinguished by the slender and sharply pointed bill, by the comparatively short tail, and by always lacking the first primary. The shape of the bill alone is enough to distinguish Dicæum from either Prionochilus or Piprisoma, for while the base of the bill is stout in all three genera, in Dicæum its distal portion is much compressed, slender and sharply pointed, and the outline of the gonys is but very slightly convex.

Species.

• a¹. Adults brightly colored with a large area, or at least a stripe, of red, orange, or yellow on under parts.
  • b¹. Bright color of under parts red; no orange on the back; male and female similar in colors.
    • c¹. A red collar on hind neck; chin and throat black with a red spot in center of throat and a red line on middle of abdomen. retrocinctum (p. [624])
    • c². No red on the upper parts.
      • d¹. Throat white; a red streak on middle of breast and abdomen.
      • d². Throat and chest red; middle of abdomen black; crissum light yellow.
  • b². Bright colors of under parts orange or yellow, or both, in males; females much plainer than the males.
    • c¹. Entire breast, abdomen, and crissum yellow, or orange and yellow; in some species the entire under parts yellow.
      • d¹. Under parts entirely bright yellow and orange.
      • d². Under parts not entirely yellow and orange; throat, or throat and chin, gray or blackish slate.
    • c². Entire under parts white and ashy gray, except a wide stripe of bright cadmium-yellow on middle of breast flaviventer (p. [632])
• • b¹. Upper parts nearly uniform in color, or the head and mantle, at least, of one color.
    • c¹. Smaller; bill from nostril, 7 mm.; wing, 40 to 45.
      • d¹. Sides of head and neck ashy or slate-color; rump and tail-coverts washed with yellow pygmæum (p. [633])
      • d². Sides of head and neck black; rump and tail-coverts glossy green like the head and back davao (p. [634])
    • c². Larger; bill from nostril, about 9 mm.; wing, 53 to 55.
      • d¹. Under parts white or whitish.
      • d². Under parts dull olive-gray; upper parts washed with olive-green. obscurum (p. [636])
  • b². Upper parts not uniform in color; head, rump, and tail-coverts olive-green; mantle smoky brown nigrilore (p. [637])
• a². Adults dull colored, black and white, or at least without red, orange, or bright yellow in any part of the plumage; the sexes alike in colors or similar.

623. DICÆUM RETROCINCTUM Gould.

RED-COLLARED FLOWERPECKER.

• Dicæum retrocinctum Gould, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. (1872), 10, 114; Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1885), 10, 35; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 96.

Luzon (?);[81] Mindoro (Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester, Everett, McGregor).

Male and female.—Upper parts, including wings and tail, black with a slight blue gloss; a collar of scarlet-vermilion on hind neck; lores dead black; sides of head, chin, throat, and breast dull black with a small scarlet-vermilion patch in center of upper throat on line with the eyes; abdomen, flanks, thighs, crissum, and sides of breast white, mixed with gray on the sides; in the middle of lower breast an oblong scarlet-vermilion patch which is surrounded by black. A male measures: Length, 100; wing, 53; tail, 27; culmen from base, 12; bill from nostril, 8; tarsus, 13.5. A female, wing, 50; tail, 26; culmen from base, 12; bill from nostril, 8.5; tarsus, 14.

“Fairly abundant in Mindoro. Found both in the forest and in the coconut groves. Three males average: Length, 91; wing, 53; tail, 27; culmen, 13; tarsus, 12.7; middle toe with claw, 13.4. A female, length, 97; wing, 50; tail, 25; culmen, 15; tarsus, 14.4; middle toe with claw, 13. Iris dark reddish brown; bill, legs, feet, and nails black. Breeding in Mindoro in the month of April.” (Bourns and Worcester MS.)

624. DICÆUM HÆMATOSTICTUM Sharpe.