Notes on Philippine Birds Collected by Governor W. Cameron Forbes Part 3

CHARACTERS.--Similar to _O. ruficeps ruficeps_ (Lesson), (specimens from Borneo), but slightly larger, with longer bill; upper parts clearer gray; crown slightly deeper brown.

MEASUREMENTS.

CULMEN NO. s.e.x LOCALITY WING TAIL TARSUS TO BASE

57,529 [Male] ad. Cagayan de Sulu 56 47 24 20 86,601 [Male] ad. Sibutu 54 45 23 20.5

REMARKS.--There are, in the U. S. N. M., three skins from Sibutu similar in all respects to ours.

Birds from Palawan and Clulion Islands are somewhat smaller than those from Sulu, but agree in color more nearly with them, than they do with true _ruficeps_ of Borneo.

ZOSTEROPS FORBESI, sp. nov.

Two adult males from Camiguin Island, 2 August, 1921.

TYPE.--M. C. Z. 86,369 adult [Male], Camiguin Island, 2 August, 1921.

W. Cameron Forbes.

CHARACTERS.--Similar to _Z. basilanica_ Steere, but larger; upper parts much brighter and yellower,--yellowish citrine rather more strongly yellowish on head and upper tail coverts; yellow of under parts brighter and clearer--bright yellow chrome.

MEASUREMENTS.

CULMEN NO. s.e.x WING TAIL TARSUS FROM BASE 86,369 [Male] ad. 57 49 16 13 86,368 [Male] ad. 56 47 15.5 13

REMARKS.--This new form which is well marked and quite distinct, belongs in the group characterized by possessing a wide stripe of yellow along the median under parts and gray sides and flanks. In the Philippines this group is represented by:

1. _Zosterops siquijorensis_ Bourns & Worcester. Negros, Siquijor.

2. _Zosterops boholensis_ McGregor. Bohol.

3. _Zosterops everettii_ Tweeddale. Cebu.

4. _Zosterops forbesi_ Bangs. Camiguin.

5. _Zosterops basilanica_ Steere. Basilan, Bongao, Dinagat, Leyte, Mindanao, Papahag, Samar, Jolo, Tawi Tawi.

I have given the new form, which is named in honour of Governor W.

Cameron Forbes, specific rank because in an enormous genus, largely composed of island forms, like Zosterops, I do not know where to draw the line between species and subspecies and much prefer leaving the question to be decided by some future reviewer of the genus.

_Zosterops meyleri_ McGregor also of Camiguin Island, is a small species with _wholly_ yellow under parts, belonging in a different group of the genus.

ORIOLUS XANTHONOTUS PERSUASUS, subsp. nov.

Four adults, both s.e.xes, Palawan, August.

TYPE.--M. C. Z. 64,180 adult [Male], Puerto Princesa, Palawan Island, 14 August, 1913. W. Cameron Forbes.

CHARACTERS.--Similar to _O. xanthonotus xanthonotus_ Horsfield of Java, but larger with longer tail. Adult [Male] differing in color in much more heavily striped under parts and in the black of chest extending farther backward to include the upper breast; and much less sharply defined posteriorly against the white under parts; back more greenish yellow; yellow spot on outer tail feather large. The adult [Female] besides differing, as does the [Male], in heavier stripes below etc., has the whole pileum, occiput, upper neck, and sides of neck heavily streaked black and olive-green, and the throat and chest dull gray with whitish streaks. (A [Female] probably an older bird in the U. S. N. M. has the head neutral gray with an olive wash, very conspicuously streaked with black, the black streaks extending as in the others right to base of bill).

MEASUREMENTS.

EXPOSED NO. s.e.x LOCALITY WING TAIL TARSUS CULMEN 64,180 [Male] ad. Palawan: Puerto Princesa 121 78 21 23 33,225 [Male] ad. " " " 118 74 20 22 64,181 [Female] ad. " " " 110 69 21 21 64,179 [Female] ad. " Iwahig Penal Colony 109 68 21 21

REMARKS.--The Black-headed Oriole has been recorded from Palawan and Calamianes Islands only in the Philippines. The Palawan representative form is strongly marked and easily to be distinguished from _O. x.

xanthonotus_ of Java.

The bird of Borneo may represent still another form, distinguished from true _xanthonotus_ by slightly smaller size, the under parts less purely white, that is, much more suffused with yellowish or yellowish ochraceous, sometimes even with grayish and with the yellow tail-spots larger. This form probably should be known as _Oriolus xanthonotus consobrinus_ Wardlaw-Ramsay (P. Z. S., 1879, p. 709, N. E. Borneo).

Everett, however, (Birds of Borneo 1889, p. 119), in mentioning the type states that "It is dissimilar from all known immature individuals of _O. xanthonotus_ and belongs rather to the _O. steerii_ group." If this is true and there is in north Borneo a form of the Philippine group of Orioles, with the s.e.xes alike in plumage and with the throat and chest plain gray, then the form of the Black-headed Oriole of Borneo, if recognized, should be named.

In old females from Java the pileum and cheeks are dark mouse-gray, blackish on the forehead, the black streaks narrow, almost obsolete and noticeable on the crown and occiput only. Females from the mainland and Borneo and Sumatra also, when adult, have faint blackish streaks on the crown. In immature plumage the head is wholly unstreaked, which I doubt to be the case in the Palawan form.

The following Publications of the Museum of Comparative Zoology are in preparation:--

LOUIS CABOT. Immature State of the Odonata, Part IV.

E. L. MARK. Studies on Lepidosteus, continued.

E. L. MARK. On Arachnactis.

Reports on the Results of Dredging Operations in 1877, 1878, 1879, and 1880, in charge of ALEXANDER AGa.s.sIZ, by the U. S. Coast Survey Steamer "Blake," as follows:--

A. MILNE EDWARDS and E. L. BOUVIER. The Crustacea of the "Blake."

A. E. VERRILL. The Alcyonaria of the "Blake."

Reports on the Results of the Expedition of 1891 of the U. S. Fish Commission Steamer "Albatross," Lieutenant Commander Z. L. TANNER, U.

S. N., Commanding, in charge of ALEXANDER AGa.s.sIZ, as follows:--

K. BRANDT. The Sagittae. W. A. HERDMAN. The Ascidians.

K. BRANDT. The Thala.s.sicolae. S. J. HICKSON. The Antipathids.

O. CARLGREN. The Actinarians. E. L. MARK. Branchiocerianthus.

W. R. COE. The Nemerteans. JOHN MURRAY. The Bottom REINHARD HOHRN. The Eyes of Specimens.

Deep-Sea Crustacea. P. SCHIEMENZ. The Pteropods and H. J. HANSEN. The Cirripeds. Heteropods.

H. J. HANSEN. The Schizopods. THEO. STUDER. The Alcyonarians.

H. B. WARD. The Sipunculids.

Reports on the Scientific Results of the Expedition to the Tropical Pacific, in charge of ALEXANDER AGa.s.sIZ on the U. S. Fish Commission Steamer, "Albatross," from August, 1899, to March, 1900, Commander Jefferson F. Moser, U. S. N., Commanding, as follows:--