Muscipeta cyaniceps Cassin, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila. (1855),
438; Ornith. Wilkes Exped. (1858), 145, pl. 9, fig. 1.
Philentoma cyaniceps Walden, Trans. Zool. Soc. (1875), 9, 182,
pl. 32, fig. 1.
Rhipidura cyaniceps Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1879), 4, 323;
Hand-List (1901), 3, 257; Grant and Whitehead, Ibis (1898), 236
(eggs); Whitehead, Ibis (1899), 107 (habits, nest); Oates and
Reid, Cat. Birds' Eggs (1903), 3, 276, pl. 8, fig. 17 (egg);
McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 74.
U-li-li-su, Benguet, Luzon.
Luzon (Meyer, Everett, Whitehead, Steere Exp., McGregor).
Adult (sexes alike).--Very similar to R. albiventris, but abdomen,
flanks, and thighs cinnamon-rufous. A male measures: Wing, 75; tail,
86; culmen from base, 12; bill from nostril, 8; tarsus, 18. A female,
wing, 74; tail, 81; culmen from base, 12; tarsus, 17.
Whitehead collected a nest and two eggs of this species at Cape Engaño,
Luzon, April 29, 1895, which are described as follows:
"Shape ovate. Ground-color rich cream-color. A zone of spots and small
blotches round the larger end; the under-markings pale slate-gray,
the over-markings darker cream-color. Measurements 19 mm. by 14 mm.
"Nest of the usual cup-shaped type made by all the species of
Rhipidura, and placed on a dead bough in an open pathway in a
conspicuous position." (Grant and Whitehead.)
"Sharpe mentions a specimen of R. cyaniceps in the British Museum
collected in Mindanao by Cuming. It seems to us extremely unlikely
that such a bird could have been overlooked by the numerous collectors
who have since visited that island, and we do not believe it exists
there. Cuming does not seem to have been over particular about
recording exact localities in the case of his Philippine collections,
and it is not at all improbable that this record is an error." (Bourns
and Worcester MS.)