Rhipidura sauli Bourns and Worcester,
Minn. Acad. Nat. Sci. Occ. Papers (1894), 1, 6; McGregor and
Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 74.
Tablas (Bourns & Worcester, Celestino).
"Adult male.--Head, crown, and nape dull bluish gray, each of the
feathers of crown with a narrow, decidedly lighter, shaft-mark,
lacking in feathers of nape and mantle; back, rump, upper tail-coverts,
scapulars, and upper wing-coverts chestnut; wing black; tertiaries
and secondaries heavily edged with chestnut; primaries lightly
edged with same color; central pair of tail-feathers black, faintly
edged with chestnut on basal half and with shafts black; next pair
with inner webs black, outer webs chestnut, shafts black on inner
side, chestnut on outer; rest of feathers of tail including shafts
chestnut above and below; sides of face, ear-coverts, chin, throat,
and upper breast bluish gray like the mantle; feathers of breast with
distinct lighter shaft-markings; feathers of lower breast gradually
changing to the chestnut of abdomen; flanks, under tail-coverts,
and thighs chestnut; axillars and under wing-coverts bluish gray at
base, heavily tipped with chestnut; inner webs of quills tipped with
chestnut. Female like male but paler. Iris dark brown; legs and feet
vary from light to very dark slaty brown; nails blackish; bill black,
except base of lower mandible which is gray.
"Twelve males average 184 in length; wing, 84; tail, 91; culmen, 16;
tarsus, 18. Three females, length, 174; wing, 76; tail, 83; culmen,
16; tarsus, 19.
"This is another ornithological puzzle of the Tablas-Romblon-Sibuyan
group. It seems to be confined to Tablas where it is common in deep
forests. It differs from R. cyaniceps, its nearest ally, in its larger
size and darker blue head and in having the ochraceous buff of under
parts replaced by deep chestnut." (Bourns and Worcester.)