Artamides mindorensis Steere, List Birds & Mams. Steere
Exped. (1890), 14; Whitehead, Ibis (1899), 102; Sharpe, Hand-List
(1901), 3, 289; McGregor, Bur. Govt. Labs. Manila (1905), 34, 19
(nest and egg); McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 77.
Libagao (Porter); [64] Mindoro (Everett, Steere Exp., Whitehead,
Bourns & Worcester); Tablas (Bourns & Worcester).
Male.--Lores, nasal plumes, line around eye, jaw, and chin black;
rest of plumage gray with no bars; very similar to the male of
A. striatus, but feathers of uropygium not fringed with white. Iris
pale yellow. Wing, 160; tail, 118; culmen from base, 26; bill from
nostril, 20; tarsus, 23.
Female.--Uniform gray, similar to the male but no black about eye,
lores, etc.; similar to female of A. guillemardi, but slightly
larger. Wing, 160; tail, 120; culmen from base, 29; bill from nostril,
21; tarsus, 24.
"The differences between A. guillemardi and A. mindorensis are very
slight. Sharpe, Ibis (1894), 254, states that the latter is lighter
gray in color than the former. On comparing specimens of these two
species we are unable to perceive the slightest difference so far
as the general color of the body is concerned. The feathers of the
throat and crown in the male of A. mindorensis are, however, lighter
gray than in the male A. guillemardi, so that the black markings on
the side of the head stand out more sharply.
"We have a large series of birds from Tablas. In nearly all of them
the under wing-coverts are barred with black and white. This we
consider to be a sign of immaturity, however, and we do not regard
them as specifically distinct from the Mindoro birds, though their
general color is slightly darker, and the black head-marking less
distinct." (Bourns and Worcester MS.)
A nest and one egg were taken in Mindoro on April 26, 1905. The nest
is composed of mosses, small leaves, lichens, and fine rootlets;
the outside is covered with cobwebs which serve to hold the materials
together and to fasten the nest to the fork in which it was built. The
nest is about 115 mm. across the top and its outside depth is about
50. The ground-color of the egg is light gray with a slightly greenish
tinge; a heavy and continuous wreath of spots and blotches encircles
the shell near the plane of its short diameter; a few small spots
are scattered about over the entire surface; the deep shell-markings
vary from pale to dark lavender; the surface spots and blotches are
reddish brown; measurements, 30.7 by 21 mm.