Muscicapa narcissina Temminck, Pl. Col. (1835), 3, pl. 577, fig. 1.
Xanthopygia narcissina Sharpe,
Trans. Linn. Soc. 2d. ser. Zool. (1877), 1, 327; Cat. Birds
Brit. Mus. (1879), 4, 249; Hand-List (1901), 3, 238; McGregor
and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 73.
Calayan (McGregor); Mindanao (Steere). Japan, China; in winter
to northern Borneo.
Male (Japan).--Above, including wings and tail, black; a line from
bill over eye to nape bright yellow; back and rump darker yellow;
upper tail-coverts black; some of the inner greater wing-coverts white,
forming a large patch; chin, throat, and breast bright orange-yellow,
becoming paler on lower breast and flanks, and gradually disappearing,
leaving the crissum pure white; sides of breast, edge of wing, and
thighs black; under wing-coverts and axillars white with slate-gray
bases. Wing, 78; tail, 53; culmen from base, 13; bill from nostril,
7; tarsus, 15.
Female (Calayan Island).--Above olive-brown, more greenish on rump;
upper tail-coverts and tail dull rufescent brown; wings brown,
the primaries narrowly, the secondaries and coverts more widely,
edged with dirty white or pale rufous-brown; lores, a line over
eye, and eye-circle pale yellowish white; lower parts whitish,
washed, more or less, with pale yellow which is brighter on throat;
breast more or less mottled with dusky brown. Upper mandible black;
lower mandible horn-blue; iris dark reddish brown; legs pale blue;
nails gray. Length, 127; wing, 73; tail, 47; culmen from base, 13;
bill from nostril, 7; tarsus, 16.
"The single male specimen obtained by Steere at Dumalon, Mindanao,
in 1874, is still preserved in the Museum of the University of
Michigan. No others seem to have been obtained since." (Bourns and
Worcester MS.)
In Calayan on October 30, 1903, McGregor and Celestino took a female
flycatcher which is undoubtedly a specimen of this migratory species,
but it was not recorded in the report on the Calayan collection. In
the field the female might be mistaken for the willow warbler or
for one of the little plain-colored flycatchers, but the male would
scarcely be overlooked if it were at all abundant. The species must,
therefore, be considered a rare winter visitant to the Philippines.
Genus CYANOPTILA Blyth, 1847.
The genus Cyanoptila is not easily distinguished from Zanthopygia. In
the former genus the colors of the male are blue, black, and white;
the wing formula is the same as that of Zanthopygia; tail equal to
nearly three-fourths of wing; tarsus one and one-half times the length
of bill from nostril.