“Five males from Sulu average: Length, 284; wing, 150; tail, 132; culmen, 35; tarsus, 24; middle toe with claw, 26. Eight females, length, 273; wing, 149; tail, 123; culmen, 32.5; tarsus, 23; middle toe with claw, 24. Iris chocolate-brown to dark red; bill, legs, feet, and nails black. Food insects.” (Bourns and Worcester MS.)
724. CHIBIA MENAGEI Bourns and Worcester.
MENAGE’S DRONGO.
- Chibia menagei Bourns and Worcester, Minnesota Acad. Nat. Sci. Occ. Papers (1894), 1, 15; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 107; McGregor, Phil. Jour. Sci. (1906), 1, 775, pl. 4.
Tablas (Bourns and Worcester, Celestino).
Adult.—Very similar in colors to C. palawanensis, but distinguished from that and all other Philippine species of the genus by the extremely long and very deeply forked tail. A male in worn plumage measures: Length, 355; wing, 141; tail (chord of longest feather), 187; bill from nostril, 22.5; depth of bill at nostril, 11; tarsus, 25; difference in length between the middle and outermost rectrices, 73; distance between tips of outermost rectrices, 120.
“Average measurements of nine males: Length, 336; culmen, 34.7; wing, 137; tail, 175; tarsus, 25. Of seven females: Length, 327; culmen, 34.7; wing, 136; tail, 168; tarsus, 26. This curious species is by far the largest representative of its genus yet discovered in the Philippine Islands, and differs strikingly from both the other known species, one of which is confined to Palawan and the Calamianes Islands, while the other occurs in the Sulu Group and in Cagayan Sulu. C. menagei seems to be strictly confined to the Island of Tablas where it is not rare in the deep woods.” (Bourns and Worcester.)
“Iris very dark brown; bill, legs, feet and nails black. Food insects.” (Bourns and Worcester MS.)
Genus BHUCHANGA Hodgson, 1836.
Tail deeply forked and slightly shorter than wing; rectrices much narrower than in either Dicrurus or Chibia, the outermost pair slightly upturned at tips. Prevailing colors of plumage blue-gray and cinereous.